2010), European Antitrust Policy 1957-2004: An Analysis of Commission Decisions

This paper provides a survey of European antitrust law enforcement since its foundation in the Treaty of Rome in 1957. We present a complete overview and statistical analysis of all formal Commission decisions adopted up to 2004 under Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the European Community Treaty. In the period March 1964 to December 2004, there have been 538 formal Commission decisions on antitrust in total, of which in 166 cases were appealed. We report a range of summary statistics concerning report route, investigation duration, length of the decision, decision type, imposed fines, number of parties, sector classification, and Commissioner and Director General responsible. The statistics are linked to changes in legislation and administrative implementation, thereby providing a historical overview that summarizes the Commission’s work in the area of antitrust. The paper further estimates the determinants of probability that a finding of an infringement is appealed against with th