News & Events

Our economists shape the debate on competition law and economics by contributing to some of the most high-profile competition cases in Europe, by conducting research and publishing in journals, and by speaking at major conferences on all topics of competition economics. Every year, we invite distinguished scholars, regulators and practitioners to exchange ideas at the E.CA Expert Forum.

 

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8 November 2024 | News
Rainer Nitsche is Competition Economist of the Year Read More

We congratulate our director and co-founder Rainer Nitsche on receiving the Competition Economist of the Year award. This annual award was presented on the 7 November by Lexology Index in London.

Many thanks to the organiser and to our clients and partners who have contributed to the assessment process with their favourable statements. We congratulate all other winners of the evening.

Each year Lexology Index (formerly known as Who’s Who Legal) presents awards to the individuals and firms that have performed exceptionally well in their sector.

26 August 2024 | Competition Competition Policy Studies News
Economic trade-offs in rail transport Read More

In this study, we derive economic trade-offs between the vertical organisation of rail transport and efficiency. For this purpose, we reviewed the academic and industry literature, screened available market statistics, assessed the experience from exemplary European countries and other network industries, and carried out interviews with industry experts.

We provide a brief summary of the report here. A link to the full version can be found below.

 

Policy insights

 

Railway policy across Europe shares common long-term goals

A common long-term goal of railway policy is to provide an efficient, high-quality service for end-customers connected with the best end-user experience regarding availability, speed, punctuality, and service.

Further common goals are the increase of the modal share of rail in the transportation of freight and passengers, and keeping costs as low as possible.

There is no one single policy solution

Countries differ with respect to their railway networks, political and economic systems, topography, population density or urbanisation factors. This is why there are diverse national railway policies among European countries. As a result, different forms of horizontal and vertical market organisation can reach the same long-term goals.

This conclusion is supported by efficiency score estimates from the economic literature (details in the full report). Spain, Sweden and Estonia reached a high average efficiency score with a vertically separated market model.

Germany, France and Latvia reached a comparably high efficiency score with a model of organizational separation. Switzerland also attained a top efficiency score based on a fully integrated model.

Complex railway system requires a holistic approach – Systemgedanke

The rail system is caught between the conflicting priorities of long-term investment and short-term end-customer needs. In addition, there are interdependencies between the different business segments and the interaction of many stakeholders.

Given this complex situation, there is a need for a holistic view of the system that takes all the diverse aspects into account and internalises externalities and conflicts. In particular, the fact that in Germany the same railway network is used by freight, regional and long-distance passenger trains poses a huge coordination challenge.

Economic theory predicts that vertical integration can be a partial solution to address possible coordination failures and contracting problems.

 

Take aways on economic trade-offs

  • Infrastructure managers and rail operators have different incentives
  • High train density favours vertical integration
  • Shared infrastructure favours vertical integration
  • Vertical separation may harm investment incentives
  • Different vertical systems require different regulation
  • Infrastructure requires some form of regulation and government funding

 

Pitfalls in policy debate

Political debate on the topic of railways is often on the search for quick and easy solutions, which results in severe oversimplifications. Ignoring more balanced and nuanced considerations can lead to mistakes.

Check out the report below to find a detailed description of pitfalls in the current policy debate in Germany.

 

Contact

For more insights or any questions, please contact the E.CA’s experts.

Link to executive summary
Link to the full report
12 August 2024 | News
WWL Competition report recognises ten E.CA colleagues Read More

We are proud to announce that our expertise in providing economic analysis in competition cases is again recognised by clients and partners, who have contributed with their reviews to the Competition Economists Report of Who’s Who Legal.

This year WWL recommends ten of our colleagues at different levels of seniority based in our offices in Berlin, Brussels, London, and Munich.

We are also delighted to celebrate the first-time recognition of Linda Gratz and Anselm Mattes in the WWL report, where they are commended as strong team leaders with profound economic knowledge.

Congratulations to our recommended colleagues, and to the wider team with whom they worked! And warm thanks to everyone who send their positive feedback: we very much look forward to working with you this year again!

Click here for the full review of the Competition Report.

LinkedIn post.

5 July 2024 | Events News
E.CA chaired a panel on CRESSE 2024 Read More

On the 5th of July our director Hans W. Friederiszick chaired a special policy session on this year’s CRESSE – Competition and Regulation European Summer School and Conference.

This session covered current developments and challenges relating to the topic “Ecosystem Competition: Access Charges, Fairness, Interoperrability”.

It was a great exchange with the internationally recognised experts and panelists Marc Bourreau (Télécom Paris), Giuseppe Colangelo (Università degli Studi della Basilicata), Jacques Cremer (Toulouse School of Economics), Eliana Garces (Analysis Group), Simon Loertscher (University of Melbourne) and Keith Waehrer (Secretariat Economists).

CRESSE is a network of academics and professionals, practicing in competition or regulatory authorities, consultancies and legal practices, with an interest in competition policy and sectoral regulation. It was initiated by Prof. Yannis Katsoulacos in 2005. E.CA has the honour of being a long-standing partner and we are very grateful for this cooperation.

26 June 2024 | Competition Competition Policy Studies News
Exploring Aspects of the State of Competition in the EU Read More

The European Commission has published the report “Exploring Aspects of the State of Competition in the EU” on June 24 2024.

The report was prepared by a consortium of firms led by Lear and comprising E.CA Economics, Fideres, Prometeia, the University of East Anglia, and Verian. Our report has contributed to the Commission’s own report entitled “Protecting Competition in a Changing World”, also published on June 24 2024.

The report contains five chapters

 

Chapter 1: Widened gap between market leaders and followers – by Lear and Prometeia

The first chapter describes the available evidence on how competition seems to have weakened across markets in the EU over the past few decades: industry concentration and markups have increased, while the gap between market leaders and followers has widened and business dynamism seems to have declined. Against this background, this report investigates four other important aspects of the state of competition in the EU.

Chapter 2: Impact of industry concentration on prices – by the University of East Anglia and Fideres

The second chapter explores the role played by market or industry concentration in determining market outcomes in specific industries. It provides evidence that higher concentration is generally associated with higher prices through price-concentration studies concerning six sectors of economic activity: mobile telecom, airlines, beer, mortgages, modern consumer retail and cement.

For mobile telecoms and airlines, the report includes original empirical analyses that shows causal effect of market concentration on prices and other outcomes.

Chapter 3: Development of the profits of global superstars – by E.CA Economics

The third chapter provides an analysis of the evolution of “Global Superstars” – the most profitable of the world’s largest firms. It finds that their profit rates have increased significantly over the last 25 years, and that the distribution of profits has become more skewed.

This section also investigates why these profits are not competed away, focusing particularly on certain sectors of economic activity (the IT, pharma and consumer goods sectors) where Global Superstars are protected by barriers to entry.

Chapter 4: Interplay between domestic competition and export competitiveness – by Lear

The fourth chapter informs the debate on the interplay between domestic competition and export competitiveness.

A survey of EU-based exporting firms, conducted by Verian, suggests that effective domestic competition within the Single Market (i) is an important driver of their global export competitiveness (particularly in upstream goods markets) and (ii) does not, for a majority of respondents, constrain their scale in a way which would prevent them from being successful on global export markets.

Chapter 5: Costs of non-competition – by Prometeia

The final chapter provides original estimates of the costs of non-competition to the wider economy. Relying on own estimates of markups, the report shows that effective competition brings about sizeable macro-economic benefits, positively affecting investment, employment, productivity and GDP growth.

 

Contact

If you want to get more insights and results please contact our expert, Alexis Walckiers.

Download full report
4 June 2024 | Events News
E.CA spoke at Hal White Antitrust Conference Read More

At the beginning of June our directors Linda Gratz and Hans W. Friederiszick gave a presentation at the 2024 Hal White Antitrust Conference. This event was organised by our US partners Bates White Economic Consulting.

Our directors spoke about bargaining power in the bilateral negotiations between carriers and large Content and Application Providers (CAPs) over IP data transport fees.

In a recent legal dispute between Meta and Telekom Deutschland GmbH, Meta stopped paying fees while continuing to use a dedicated direct network connection into Telekom’s network, with both parties accusing each other of abusing a dominant position.

In this context, our company analysed the relative bargaining power of carriers and CAPs in the bilateral negotiations over fees for IP data transport.

We concluded that carriers technically cannot deny access to their network. Furthermore, large CAPs can deliberately cause congestion at interconnects into a carrier’s network, thereby temporarily deteriorating the connection quality in the network. Consequently, a significant imbalance in the relative bargaining power in favour of large CAPs can arise.

The dispute between Meta and Telekom could become a precedent for establishing whether CAPs must pay for using dedicated direct connections to carrier’s networks and contribute their share to the necessary investment into Next Generation Networks.

We thank Bates White for inviting us to speak at the conference. Thank you also to our clients for the opportunity to share our analysis and engage in such an important discussion.

30 May 2024 | Events News
E.CA Expert Forum 2024 Read More

This year E.CA Expert Forum took place at the Fondation Boghossian (Villa Empain) in Brussels on 30 May.

You will find a summary of the panel discussions regarding “Self-preferences and AI” and “The role of competition policy in the transformation of the European economy” below. We also summarised our key take aways from the closing remarks by Olivier Guersent.

A big thank you to the speakers, participants and for everyone else who contributed to the success of our event.

10 April 2024 | News
Winner of Antitrust Writing Award Read More

E.CA Economics has won the Antitrust Writing Award. Our “EU publication on State aid: E.CA supports DG Competition with revision of Railway Guidelines” was awarded in the category “cross-border”. Congratulations to our directors Elzbieta Glowicka and Anselm Mattes and all other involved colleagues. The study was conducted by a consortium lead by E.CA and included LEAR, Sheppard Mullin, UEA and the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.

Click here if you want to read more details about the study and the results.

19 March 2024 | News
European Competition Law Read More

The new edition of the European Competition Law by Prof Helmut Schröter, Robert Klotz, and Bernhard von Wendland was published recently.

Our director Hans W. Friederiszick and associate principal Rafael Aigner contributed the chapter “The role of economic analyses in the enforcement of European antitrust law”.

This reference work for competition law covers the entire field of antitrust and merger law with all procedural rules, enriched with commentaries and interpretations by relevant experts.

The fact that we were able to participate in this standard work is a nice proof of how much our expertise is recognised and appreciated in the industry.

The book (ISBN 978-3-8487-6325-2) can be ordered via this link.

18 March 2024 | News
Dynamics of Generative AI Read More

On the 22 March 2024 the conference “Dynamics of Generative AI” will take place in Berlin. The central question that will be discussed is: What will define the future of AI ecosystems? The conference is co-hosted by the Weizenbaum-Institut and the Amsterdam Law & Technology Institute.

At the event lawyers, economists, computer scientists, and social scientists will gather their knowledge to find answers around this question.

E.CA Economics is proud that our director Elżbieta Głowicka has an active part in the discussion. She will talk about how vertical partnerships and/or integration in the GenAI value chain can facilitate competition in GenAI products.

12 March 2024 | News
E.CA contributes to Noerr Competition Day Read More

Our director Anselm Mattes will contribute to the Noerr Competition Day on 14/15 March 2024 in Munich. The conference will cover many topical issues in competition law and practice and can be expected to offer many valuable insights!

In a plenary panel Dr Mattes will discuss with Thorsten Käseberg from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action the latest developments in German competition law, e.g.

  • the new powers of the Bundeskartellamt following a sector enquiry, which were introduced with the last amendment to the German competition law (§32f)
  • the newly introduced one percent presumption of harm in the case of benefit skimming (§34(4))

Also, part of the discussion will be the following potential changes to German competition law that are currently under discussion, inter alia

  • changes to the notification thresholds in merger control with a focus on killer takeovers
  • greater consideration of sustainability in competition law, e.g. in sustainability agreements between companies
  • a stronger role for the Bundeskartellamt in consumer protection and the interplay between consumer protection and competition

We are very much looking forward to the 11th edition of the Noerr Competition Day.

15 January 2024 | Competition Competition Policy Studies
Ex post evaluation of vertical mergers Read More

In April 2022, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published E.CA Economics’ ex post evaluation of its approach to vertical mergers. The CMA retained us to look at four recent mergers with a vertical component and evaluate whether CMA’s assessment was reasonable and correct. We also reviewed the current thinking on vertical mergers to help the CMA learn from the latest developments.

 

Merger cases that have been analysed

E.CA’s evaluation reviewed four CMA assessments of vertical mergers, or mergers with a
vertical component. All took place in 2017. They were:

  1. the acquisition by a vertically integrated pig farming and pork processing operation,
    Tulip, of a large pig farm specialised in outdoor bred pigs, Easey;
  2. the acquisition by the brewer and pub owner, Heineken, of Punch pubs;
  3. the acquisition by Mastercard of the payment infrastructure provider, Vocalink; and
  4. the acquisition by the UK’s largest grocery retailer, Tesco, of the UK’s largest grocery
    wholesaler, Booker.

 

Key findings

E.CA found that the CMA carried out largely reasonable and correct assessments of these mergers. The following key findings aim to help the CMA fine tune its practice in the future:

Business evidence is important
Vertical mergers tend to be more complex than horizontal mergers, which means that vertical harm can be more difficult to understand. We found that in all reviewed cases there was good quality evidence, that would have helped the CMA understand the purpose of the merger. The CMA could have derived useful knowledge from this evidence for its assessment of competition concerns.

Vertical mergers are rarely isolated events
In all reviewed industries other cases of vertical consolidation were taking place within a similar time frame. The CMA would have benefitted from understanding the impact of and motivation for the mergers in a wider industry context, and from taking a more dynamic approach to the counterfactual.

Updating the vertical toolkit
The CMA’s Merger Assessment Guidelines help with some vertical cases, but may not provide sufficient guidance to tackle some of the recently formulated concerns, such as softening of competition through a vertical recoupment mechanism, or potential competition concerns in a platform market setting.

Balancing the SLC test
The CMA could be more mindful of the need to balance its SLC test with both greater interest in (and rigorous testing of) efficiencies, as well as with consistent application of the ability-incentive-effect framework for the assessment of foreclosure. The CMA could also be more thorough in its assessment of entry ans expansion.

Benefits of simplicity
The CMA tended to investigate more theories of harm for longer than we considered necessary. Given that some of the most plausible theories of harm were complex and required careful assessment, the CMA would have benefitted from focusing on a smaller number of higher likelihood concerns.

 

Contact

For more insights or any questions, please contact the E.CA’s experts.

These E.CA employees were also involved: Rafael Aigner, Bas Dessens, Vedika Hegde, Nicola Heusel, Raphael PoncetGiulia Santosuosso.

Click here to find the full report.
2 January 2024 | News
Promotions 2024 Read More

New year – new promotions. We are happy to announce that E.CA Economics keeps growing and getting stronger. We start 2024 celebrating the promotion of our exceptional colleagues:

Promotion to Associate Principal: Brecht Boone, Juri Demuth, Harm van Leeuwen
Promotion to Manager: Benedikt Flügel, Jan Málek, Simon Specht
Promotion to Senior Economist: Julius Hohberg, Malte Jeschonneck, Raphaël Poncet, Giulia Santosuosso, Owen Weijie Yan

Congratulations!

20 December 2023 | News
E.CA recognized in GCR ranking 2024 Read More

This has become a nice tradition at the end of the year – already since 2008: GCR has recognised E.CA Economics, in its GCR 100 ranking, as one of the top 20 competition economics firms globally. 

E.CA is considered “highly recommended” by its clients and seen as a unique independent European competition economics firm, rooted in Germany and with offices in Brussels and London. Their description also points to our strong collaboration with our partners from the US consultancy, Bates White.

GCR emphasises the scholarly credentials of our economists and the strength of our academic network. Furthermore, the excellent E.CA team has nine Who’s Who Legal nominees, including four Future Leaders, which speaks – according to GCR – to the quality of our team up and down the ranks.

We want to thank our clients and partners who have contributed to this ranking year after year with their positive reviews and recommendations.

8 November 2023 | Competition Competition Policy Studies
E.CA supports study for the revision of the EEAG & Section 7 of GBER Read More

DG Competition of the European Comission commissioned a consortium with a study to support the revision of the EU Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy (EEAG) and the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). E.CA Economics was part of this consortium together with DIW Berlin, LEAR, SheppardMullin and University of East Anglia.

The report provides  with background information for the review of the EU Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy (EEAG) applicable in 2014-2020 and on the provisions applicable to aid for environmental protection and energy (Section 7) of Commission Regulation (EU) 651/2014 (GBER).

 

The study consists of three study items.

Transparency, Tendering, Broadening

This study item examines whether and how the transparency of environmental protection costs of decarbonisation aid schemes should be increased by quantifying both the benefits to environmental protection and their costs. It also addresses whether tendering requirements in aid schemes should be extended. Finally, the study item assesses whether environmental protection schemes can be broadened to different sectors and technologies which could advance the same environmental protection objective to a similar extent, rather than being sector- or technology-specific.

Operating Aid vs. Investment Aid

The challenges of the green transition might require new types of aid and the traditional distinction between operating aid and investment aid needs to be re-examined. Hence, study item 2 examines the effectiveness and distortive effect of different forms of aid by reviewing the existing literature, case stud-ies on four representative schemes and modelling hypothetical future aid schemes in important sectors.

Energy intensive Users

This study item assesses whether the currently used economic parameters to determine the eligibility of sectors for exemptions from decarbonisation levies for Energy-Intensive Users (“EIUs”) are the most relevant parameters for the risk of relocation from an economic perspective. Further it aims at determining the extent to which the profitability of EIUs is affected by different levels of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Combined Heat Power (CHP) levies on electricity for a sample of 10 sectors.

 

Interested in the main findings?

Please contact our experts. They can answer all questions.

E.CA representatives also involved: Hans W. FriederiszickJan Christopher Rönn

Link to full report
3 November 2023 | Competition Competition Policy Studies
State aid in the railway sector published by DG COMP Read More

DG COMP of the European Commission has published a study conducted by a consortium led by E.CA Economics on State aid in the field of rail transport. The results of the study support the Commission in the revision of the current Community Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. The consortium included E.CA Economics, LEAR, Sheppard Mullin, UEA and the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.

In the context of the European Green Deal, the European Union aims at doubling rail freight traffic by 2050. The revision of the current Railway Guidelines is aimed at supporting this ambitious goal. It provides detailed market information, based on desk research and data collection.

The low modal share of rail (only 8.8% of total freight transport) endangers important goals in environmental and transport policy.

Compared to highly polluting road transport by truck, rail freight is a safe and low-emission type of transport. A substantial rise in the rail modal share will require improvements at three different levels of the overall rail freight system.

 

More, better and modern infrastructure

As of now, bottlenecks in rail network lead to congestion and slow and unreliable delivery times; outdated infrastructure makes cross-border transport tedious; facilities like intermodal terminals with outdated technology increase transport times and costs; private sidings are often missing to connect customers to the rail network.

 

More and up-to-date rolling stock

The existing fleet of rolling stock will not suffice for a substantial increase of the rail modal share. Furthermore, a significant share of the rolling stock is outdated and not fit for future requirements, such as automated coupling etc.

 

Rail freight must become competitive with road transport

Rail freight is in close competition with road transport, especially in combined transport and single-wagon transport. Only if it’s overall cheaper, shippers will choose rail transport instead of road transport. At the moment, rail freight is not competitive in many cases – as the low modal share proves.

Public policies can improve this situation with a modern State aid framework that encourages the modal share.

The study provides data on the rail freight market, such as the costs and revenues associated with rail freight. It alsoprovides policy options, including examples of good practices, for the design of State aid for rail freight which can support and guide the revision of the Railway Guidelines.

 

Contact

If you want to get more insights and results please contact our experts.

Download policy briefing
Download full study
13 October 2023 | News
Alena Kozakova appointed to GEMA Board Read More

We are delighted to announce that Alena Kozakova, our Director in the E.CA’s London office, has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the UK’s Board of Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA), alongside her role at E.CA.

As a Non-Executive Directors, Alena will be responsible for bringing independent oversight and support, and help guide the Office of Gas and Electricity Market (Ofgem) work on current and future challenges – from restoring resilience in the energy market to maintaining progress towards the UK’s net zero goals.

Alena’s appointment is a recognition of her outstanding skills and contribution as an economist in the public and private sectors. We are convinced that Alena will fulfill her tasks at GEMA in her usual excellent manner. We are very proud and happy to have you in the E.CA team. Congratulations, Alena.

30 June 2023 | News
E.CA listed as top economic firm 2023 by WWL and GCR Read More

E.CA economists have once again been recognised as leading economic experts. E.CA Economics has been ranked consistently amongst the top 24 international competition economics firms globally since 2008 by the Global Competition Review (GCR), where we once again appear this year in the “Highly Recommended” category. GCR explains that “E.CA Economics is home to a dynamic competition practice that extends across Europe and into the US, thanks to a well-established relationship with Bates White.” GCR refers amongst others to our recent “headline matters”, which includes “advising Meta on its acquisition of Giphy, which was conditionally cleared by Austria’s Cartel Court in February 2022 following a Phase II investigation by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority”.

Recently, the quality of our expertise was further recognized through the increasing number of our colleagues, which are listed by Who’s Who Legal (WWL). Indeed, WWL now lists Lars-Hendrik Röller and Alexis Walckiers as EconomicExperts, in addition to Hans W. FriederiszickSimone KohnzRainer Nitsche and our Academic Affiliate Frank Verboven, who were already listed last year. Our colleagues Rafael AignerBas DessensThomas Hildebrand and Alia Schweiger appear as FutureLeaders on the list. Congratulations to them: their listing is well deserved!

WWL further confirms our leading position in Germany, having 4 Experts and 3 Future Leaders on the list (more than any other firm), and our growing international footprint with two listed colleagues based in Brussels and one in London (where we opened an office last year).

Let us take this opportunity to thank our clients not only for the fantastic feedback they provided, which led to these recognitions, but also for the confidence they show in giving us the opportunity to work on interesting and (sometimes) challenging cases. Working with you makes us better every day!

We also want to congratulate our US partner Bates White Economic Consulting, who have 11 Experts listed by WWL.

WWL’s overview is available here: https://lnkd.in/eJJtVVg9
GCR’s overview is available here: https://lnkd.in/esidhrny
The firm’s profile is available here: https://lnkd.in/eMDe5F2q

1 June 2023 | News
E.CA listed as top consulting firm in Germany by JUVE Read More

E.CA Economics has been listed as the most recommended consulting firm in Germany by the leading German Law journal JUVE. In the article E.CA is referred to as “the clear international leader among German consulting firms in the field of competition economics”.

Our Managing Directors Rainer Nitsche and Hans W. Friederiszick are respectively ranked #1 and #2 competition economists in the German market in JUVE’s research of law firms and consultancies. Bas Dessens and Simone Kohnz, both Directors at E.CA, are also distinguished as renowned consultants. Congratulations!

With an increasing number of female directors, 3 out of 8 in total in Germany – Elżbieta GłowickaLinda Gratz and Simone Kohnz – E.CA stands out for its inclusive approach and diversity.

Read the article: Die ­Zahlenzauberer / JUVE Rechtsmarkt 06 2023 (Preview) | JUVE Kiosk

31 March 2023 | News
DG COMP has published new E.CA study on State aid in the railway sector Read More

The Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission (DG COMP) has published a new study conducted by a consortium led by E.CA Economics on State aid in the field of rail transport. The results of the study will support the Commission in the revision of the current Community Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. The consortium included E.CA Economics as lead partner as well as, LEAR, Sheppard Mullin and UEA and was supported by the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.

In the context of the European Green Deal, the European Union aims at doubling rail freight traffic by 2050. The revision of the current Railway Guidelines is aimed at supporting this ambitious goal. It provides detailed market information, based on desk research and data collection.

Once at the frontier of freight transport logistics, rail lost its dominant position to road transport during the 20th century. Over the last two decades, the rail modal share in freight transport has stagnated at a low level across Europe. In the last pre-pandemic year 2019, the share of rail in the total freight transport was at 8.8% on average in Europe with some degree of regional variation: Rail freight is less important in Southern Europe and more important in Eastern Europe.

This low modal share of rail endangers important goals in environmental and transport policy. The European Green Deal, to which the European Union committed in 2020, aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Compared to highly polluting road transport by truck, rail freight is a safe and low-emission type of transport. A substantial rise in the rail modal share will require improvements at three different levels of the overall rail freight system:

  1. More, better and modern infrastructure. As of now, bottlenecks in rail network lead to congestion and slow and unreliable delivery times; outdated infrastructure makes cross-border transport tedious; facilities like intermodal terminals with outdated technology increase transport times and costs; private sidings are often missing to connect customers to the rail network.
  2. More and up-to-date rolling stock. The existing fleet of rolling stock will not suffice for a substantial increase of the rail modal share. Furthermore, a significant share of the rolling stock is outdated and not fit for future requirements, such as automated coupling etc.
  3. Rail freight must become competitive with road transport. Rail freight is often in close competition with road transport. This holds especially true for combined transport and single-wagon transport. Only if rail freight is overall cheaper, shippers will choose rail transport instead of road transport. At the moment, rail freight is not competitive in many cases – as the low modal share proves.

Public policies can improve this situation. One way – among others – is a modern State aid framework that encourages the modal share. One the one hand, the study provides market data on the rail freight market, such as the costs and revenues associated with rail freight. On the other hand, the study provides policy options, including examples of good practices, for the design of State aid for rail freight which can support and guide the revision of the Railway Guidelines.

 

Contact our experts:

Elżbieta Głowicka

Anselm Mattes

 

DOWNLOAD POLICY BRIEFING

DOWNLOAD FULL STUDY

25 January 2023 | News
GCR Enforcer Hub Germany: Economist Perspective Read More

Our experts Linda, Nadine and Alia share their knowledge on Germany’s dealings with antitrust law and updated the economist’s perspective of GCR’s Enforcer Hub. With detailed contributions direct from over 100 competition enforcement agencies around the world, GCR’s Enforcer Hub profiles both the legal and economic functions of the agencies, alongside enforcement history, strengths, and priorities.

What’s it about?

The implementation of the 10th amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) – also referred to as the “ARC Digitalisation Legislation” – on 19 January 2021[1] extended the enforcement power of the German Competition Authority with respect to digital platforms. Subsequently, the German Competition Authority decided that Alphabet/Google, Meta/Facebook and Amazon do indeed possess “paramount significance for competition across markets” (PSICAM) and, thus, are subject to Germany’s extended abuse control. Against that background, the German Competition Authority opened several proceedings against the leading online platforms, forging ahead in the race of European competition authorities to regulate the behaviour of Big Tech companies and to ensure fair competition (ie, a “level playing field”) in the digital economy. In the article, we will summarise the opened proceedings, which range from, for example, potentially insufficient choice options for consumers regarding Google’s data processing terms to the assessment of Apple’s tracking rules for third-party apps.

Read the article

6 January 2023 | News
Promotions to Director Read More

We are pleased to announce the promotions of Elżbieta Głowicka and Anselm Mattes to Director in Berlin office.

 

Since joining E.CA Economics in 2013, dr. Ela Głowicka has provided economic advice in competition law matters in many European jurisdictions. She advised clients in private litigation cases about damages from cartels, vertical agreements and abuse of dominance. In the area of State aid, Ela has extensive expertise in the ex-post evaluation of the European State aid rules. She also supports merging parties in merger proceedings.

Before becoming an economic consultant, Ela gained a first-hand insight into competition policy enforcement as a member of the Chief Economist Team in DG Competition at European Commission. She holds a doctoral degree from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin for the thesis on State aid control applied to bailouts.

 

Dr. Anselm Mattes has more than 15 years of experience in economic consulting with a focus on applied empirical economics. Since 2006, Anselm has provided economic advice to a large range of clients, including the European Commission, several Federal Ministries in Germany and many private clients, ranging from start-ups to global players.

Before joining E.CA Economics, Anselm worked as a Manager and Senior Researcher at DIW Econ, the consulting firm of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), and as an Economist at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) in Tübingen.

Anselm holds a Doctoral degree in Economics from University of Tuebingen as well as a Master degree in Economics from the .

 

Congratulations!

5 January 2023 | News
Promotions 2023 Read More

We are proud to share the exciting news with you. E.CA Economics is growing and getting stronger. We start the new year celebrating the promotion of our exceptional colleagues:

Promotion to Principal: Alia Schweiger
Promotion to Manager: Michael Kaiser
Promotion to Senior Economist: Nicola Heusel and Zachary Herriges

Congratulations!

21 December 2022 | News
WWL Germany 2023: E.CA Stands Out With Three Listings Read More

We are pleased to share that WWL Germany 2023 has once again singled out Hans W. FriederiszickRainer Nitsche and Simone Kohnz – our E.CA Economics directors – as having a first-class reputation as competition economists. We always strive to perform strongly and thus respond to the trust of our clients, colleagues and peers.

Who’s Who Legal says about us:

Hans Friederiszick garners plaudits from market respondents for his well-established practice which sees him advise clients on a range of cartel and merger disputes.

Rainer Nitsche has amassed a wealth of experience navigating clients through complex competition matters, particularly when it comes to cartels and abuse of dominance.

Simone Kohnz is a leading figure in the German market thanks to her first-rate work testifying on a wide range of competition matters and multijurisdictional experience.

Many thanks for the cooperation and support!

Find out more

1 July 2022 | News
CRESSE – Competition and Regulation European Summer School and Conference Read More

Our directors Hans W. Friederiszick and Lars-Hendrik Röller are looking forward to participating in the 16th International Conference on Competition and Regulation, organised by CRESSE – Competition and Regulation European Summer School and Conference.

CRESSE is a network of academics and professionals, practicing in competition or regulatory authorities, consultancies and legal practices, with an interest in competition policy and sectoral regulation. It was initiated by Prof. Yannis Katsoulacos in 2005.

Programme

22 June 2022 | Antitrust News
2022 Hal White Antitrust Conference Read More

Our directors Hans W. Friederiszick and Alena Kozakova are looking forward to the 2022 Hal White Antitrust Conference on June 23, 2022 in Washington, DC – a conference connecting the antitrust community with knowledge, ideas and lively discussions. Bates White Economic Consulting and E.CA Economics maintain an exclusive cooperative partnership to provide international antitrust services in the United States and Europe.

14 April 2022 | News
CMA publishes E.CA’s ex post evaluation of vertical mergers Read More

On 14 April 2022, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published E.CA Economics’ ex post evaluation of its approach to vertical mergers. The CMA retained us to look at four recent mergers with a vertical component and evaluate whether CMA’s assessment was reasonable and correct. We also reviewed the current thinking on vertical mergers to help the CMA learn from the latest developments.

We found that the CMA carried out, on the whole, high quality analysis with only a small number of analytical choices we would not have made. The CMA appeared more lenient to vertical mergers than horizontal mergers, perhaps more than would be justified, although we did not conclude the CMA should have blocked any of the mergers we studied in detail. We also found that the CMA would need to continue to evolve its toolkit to capture accurately the complexities that vertical mergers bring, including making potentially uncomfortable decisions in the platform markets space.

Read the study

Press release

2 March 2022 | News
Support study for revision of Railway Guidelines Read More

E.CA Economics will assist the European Commission in the revision of the Railway Guidelines. Together with LEAR, University of East Anglia and Sheppard Mullin, E.CA will provide an impact assessment support study for the review of the Community guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. It will provide factual, analytical and data inputs that contribute to ensuring that the Guidelines set the rules applicable to the rail sector and to the entire value chain involved in the modal shift from road to rail and other less polluting transport modes. Over 140 stakeholders (among others granting authorities, regulatory bodies, industry associations, and railway and logistics companies) from 13 different countries will be contacted via surveys and targeted interviews to collect relevant data and meaningful insights. Industry experts from Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds will be supporting the consortium.

 

As part of the revision process of the current Community Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings (Railway Guidelines) from 2008, the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission (DG COMP) has commissioned this external support study. The fitness check of the Railway Guidelines conducted in 2019 and 2020 confirmed that the Guidelines are not fit-for-purpose and require a full-fledged review to align them with the market and regulatory developments, in particular to make them fit for the full liberalisation of the rail sector following in particular the adoption of the Fourth Railway Package in 2016. This review is also required to support the EU policy priorities in the context of the Green Deal and the increased importance of a modal shift from road to less polluting transport modes such as rail and inland waterways in order to meet the Union’s emissions reduction target by 2050.

16 February 2022 | News
Lars-Hendrik Röller rejoins E.CA Economics Read More

As of February 2022, Prof. Lars-Hendrik Röller, PhD, will rejoin as a director the European economics consultancy E.CA Economics. Lars-Hendrik Röller served as the first chief economist with DG Competition at the European Commission, and recently as the chief economic advisor to the German Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel. He is a proven expert in industrial economics and has unique expertise in providing economic advice in competition cases. His key topics of interest will include digital, energy, health and transportation markets, and he will be responsible for driving the international business at E.CA Economics.

Press Release EN

Press Release DE

11 February 2022 | News
Alexis Walckiers Appointed Assessor of the Belgian Competition Authority Read More

Our director Alexis Walckiers has been appointed assessor of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA). “I am delighted to have the opportunity to sit as an assessor for the Belgian Competition Authority. This is an important role, and I look forward to contributing to a balanced decision process. On a personal note, I am also very enthusiastic to get to see the many friends I made at the BCA from time to time.”

The BCA comprises an Investigation Service (the Investigation and Prosecution Service) and a decision-making body (Competition College). The decision-making body is the Competition College for all infringement cases that are not settled or closed by the Investigation and Prosecution Service, as well as all non-simplified merger control procedures. The BCA President presides over the Competition College. For each case, the Competition College consists of the president and two assessors.

24 January 2022 | News
2022 Antitrust Writing Awards Nominee Read More

Congratulations to Juri DemuthHans W. Friederiszick and Steffen Reinhold who’s article has been shortlisted for the 2022 Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards.

Read and vote for the article

12 January 2022 | News
Promotions 2022 Read More

New year, next step: it’s time to celebrate the promotion of our excellent colleagues.

Promotion to Associate Principal: Rafael Aigner

Promotion to Manager: Alexander PaulArvid Viaene

Promotion to Senior Economist: Ignacio Balaguer LópezAlix De LoustalSimon Franke, Niklas GebhardMichael Kaiser and Jan Christopher Rönn

Promotion to Economist: Luca Rancati

Congratulations!

7 January 2022 | News
E.CA listed as top economic firm 2022 by WWL and GCR Read More

E.CA Economics has once again been recommended both by Who’s Who Legal (WWL) and Global Competition Review (GCR). Both offer a comprehensive listing and analysis of the world’s top antitrust and competition practices.

In the guide “Germany 2022 – Competition Economists”, WWL states that “E.CA Economics stands out with three listings here.” Hans W. Friederiszick, Simone Kohnz and Rainer Nitsche were named to that list as highly recommended competition economists. Who’s Who Legal annually identifies the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law by evaluating more than 250,000 third-party recommendations and conducting 5,000 interviews with leading practitioners.

GCR listed E.CA for the 14th time in a row as of the world’s leading antitrust economics consultancies: “A compact consultancy that solely focuses on competition matters, E.CA Economics punches above its weight with teams in Berlin, Munich, Brussels and London.” The “Economics 23” ranking is based on measures including the number of dedicated antitrust economists in the firm, work over the past year, and the number of nominations to Who’s Who Legal: Competition.

WWL’s overview is available here.

GCR’s  overview is available here.

The firm’s 2022 Economics 23 profile is available here.