Free Trade and Competition in the EECEditie 1

To what extent are Member states of the EEC bound to operate under principles of free trade and undistorted competition? How much of a free market really is the EEC in so far as the States themselves are concerned? Free Trade and Competition in the EEC (1988) examines these issues and attempts to establish the conditions under which a State may operate in the market through the medium of undertakings which it controls and the Member State’s responsibility for these undertakings. It looks at the extent to which Member States may intervene and regulate this market through general measures and tamper with free market forces without infringing the principle of free competition and whether state liability can be established. In the context of the above, the book also assesses the separate liability of both public and private undertakings which operate under the direction of the State or in a so heavily regulated environment that a certain anti-competitive behaviour is made possible or virtually imposed by the State.