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 scientific and non-academic journals, and by speaking and discussing at major conferences and workshops on all topics of competition economics. Every year, we invite distinguished scholars, regulators and practitioners to exchange ideas at the E.CA Expert Forum.

10 May 2021 | News
Nomination for 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards Read More

E.CA is thrilled to announce that three articles written by E.CA colleagues have been selected for the 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards by Concurrences and The George Washington University for the best Academic article category. This year, the Editorial Committee received a record-breaking of 1,200+ submissions. The full articles of the nominees can be read online.

The nominees are:

  • in the subcategory “10. Digital”: Özlem Bedre-Defolie and Rainer Nitsche, “When do markets tip? An overview and some insights for policy”, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, December 2020, Volume 11, Issue 10.
  • in the subcategory “11. Economics”: Hans W. Friederiszick, Linda Gratz and Michael Rauber, “The impact of EU cartel policy reforms on the timing of settlements in private follow-on damages disputes—an empirical assessment of cases from 2001 to 2015”, Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, November 9, 2020.
  • in the subcategory “11. Economics”:
    Vilen Lipatov, Damien Neven and Georges Siotis, “Pre-empting the entry of near perfect substitutes”, Journal of Competition Law & Economics, March 2021, Volume 17, Issue 1.
13 April 2021 | News
E.CA participating in Digital Markets Competition Forum Read More

Gregor Langus takes part in the virtual roundtable discussion on “Platform envelopment through data – When does it lead to market foreclosure?”, organised by the Digital Markets Competition Forum of the Copenhagen Business School.

Does platform envelopment create data advantages and high entry barriers for competitors? Should data aggregation be restricted? The workshop revisits the concept of platform envelopment, the value creation nature of data aggregation and repurposing in the context of digital platform ecosystems as well as the potential role of data for platform monopolistic entrenchment and the policy implications.

The virtual roundtable discussion takes place on 15th April 2021.

8 April 2021 | News Womenineconomics
E.CA participating in the W@Competition Mentoring Programme Read More

Our directors Linda Gratz and Alexis Walckiers participate as mentors in the W@Competition Mentoring Programme.

Women@Competition is a platform for women competition professionals – striving to enable women professionals to be easily found, normalise women professionals’ presence in public space and to facilitate connections among women professionals.

In the mentoring program, female mentees are matched with mentors who work in a complementary discipline of the profession (e.g. in-house lawyer with private practice economist, or European Commission official with private practice lawyer). Eligible mentees are female professionals who could benefit from external mentoring and who would like to be inspired by a fresh perspective on how to thrive their careers.

8 March 2021 | News
Let’s celebrate the International Women’s Day 2021. A day to celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness for women’s equality. Read More
3 March 2021 | News
Maastricht Business Days 2021 Read More

Dear SCOPE Maastricht students, stop by our virtual booth at the Maastricht Business Days and get to know us. Alix DE LOUSTALHarm van Leeuwen and Josefin Karg will show you who we are and what we do – and answer your questions.

Link to the event

Link to registration

Linda Gratz, Principal E.CA Economics
3 February 2021 | News
Lindra Gratz promoted to Director in Munich office Read More

 has been promoted to Director in our Munich office. Her areas of expertise include damage assessments in multiple cartel proceedings and abuse of dominance investigations. She also has particular expertise in the assessment of mergers in industries such as telecommunications, construction materials, copper, FMCG, press logistics and touristic flights.

With her promotion, Linda joins the leadership team of E.CA Economics, now comprising seven directors: Hans W. FriederiszickLinda GratzThomas HildebrandSimone KohnzGregor LangusRainer Nitsche and Alexis Walckiers.

Download press release here

28 January 2021 | News
E.CA contributor to the GCR Insight – Enforcer Hub – Germany overview Read More

Our directors Hans W. FriederiszickThomas Hildebrand, Simone Kohnz and Rainer Nitsche have written this year’s Global Competition Review Enforcer Hub’s economics perspective on Germany.

The article showcases the high level of competition law enforcement of the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office, FCO) over the past year, which led to important court victories. Besides a number of interventions in traditional industries, the FCO undoubtedly focused on recent developments in digital markets, where various policy papers demonstrate its appetite to shape the debate in this field. We do not expect any change from that perspective in the coming years: with the 10th Amendment of the German Competition Act in implementation, the FCO’s initiatives will be grounded in an antitrust law tailored towards digital markets.

Read more

An extract from GCR’s Enforcer Hub. The whole publication is available here.

14 January 2021 | News
Promotions 2021 Read More

We are proud to announce the following promotions – Linda Gratz, Director; Michael Rauber, Associate Principal; Brecht Boone, Manager; Benedikt Fluegel, Jan Melcher, Florian Peiseler, Valeria Plata Franco, Senior Economist, Mariana Rocha, Team Assistant and Project Coordinator. Congratulations – Great success!

16 December 2020 | News
E.CA Economics listed in the GCR 100 2021 Read More

We are delighted to announce that E.CA Economics has been listed under Economics 21 in the GCR 100 2021 by . This is a great recognition for the work of our dedicated team. Over the past year, E.CA Economics has worked on major merger reviews by the European Commission and national enforcers in Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and the Benelux countries. Thank you to all our clients and business partners for their trust.

Click here for more information

Get in touch with our team

4 November 2020 | News State aid
Revision of EEAG and GBER: DG Comp commissioned consortium led by E.CA Economics with background study Read More

Dr Hans W. Friederiszick,  Dr Ela Głowicka and  Dr Anselm Mattes will be leading an international consortium for E.CA Economics, commissioned by the European Commission ( DG Competition) with a background study on State aid in the field of environmental protection and energy.

The European Commission (DG Competition) commissioned an international consortium led by E.CA Economics with a background study on State aid in the field of environmental protection and energy. The consortium consists of E.CA Economics, DIW Berlin, LEAR, University of East Anglia and Sheppard Mullin. The results of the study will support the Commission in the revision of the EU Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy (EEAG) as well as the respective parts of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The study will assist the Commission in updating the Guidelines to ensure that they are fit-for-purpose, taking into account the general State aid modernisation objectives and the recent regulatory developments (notably the Clean Energy Package, Clean Mobility Package and Circular Economy Package), and that they facilitate the implementation of the European Green Deal. The revision of the Guidelines will also take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Member States economies and their funding capabilities together with the deployment of the Recovery Plan for Europe.

 

1 September 2020 | News
Alexis Walckiers joins E.CA Economics Read More

E.CA Economics is proud to announce that Alexis Walckiers joined its Brussels office as a Director since 1 September 2020. Alexis Walckiers comes to E.CA as the former Chief Economist of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA).  Alexis represented the BCA on international panels, like meetings of the national chief economists, and served as the President of the Association of Competition Economics from 2016 to 2018.

Alexis holds a PhD in Economics from the ECARES Université libre de Bruxelles where he teaches economics at the Solvay business school. His recent papers on vertical restraints and hub-and-spoke collusion have been published in the International Journal of Industrial Organization and the Journal of European Competition Law and Practice.

Link to Press Release

Link to BCA news

Link to GCR news article

29 June 2020 | News
E.CA Economics presenting at CRESSE 2020 Special Policy Session Read More

Dr. Hans W. Friederiszick will be participating in one of the three Special Policy Sessions organised by the CRESSE committee. In session 2 on US Vertical Mergers: Enforcement Developments and Guidelines, a distinguished panel of economists will discuss vertical mergers in different jurisdictions, also in the context of the recently proposed Vertical Merger Guidelines. Hans W. Friederiszick will be commenting on the different contributions.

The session will take place on 1 July 2020 at 17.00-19.00. Please register free of charge here to follow the live stream.

For the remaining sessions on 26 June 2020 and 7 July 2020, please go to the conference website for more information.

25 June 2020 | News Papers & reports State aid
COVID-19: Mind the Uncertainty! Read More

In this article, Gregor Langus and Brecht Boone explain how irreversibility of investment combined with market power can result in a delay in investments in the current climate of high uncertainty due to Covid-19. Building on these insights, the authors discuss the implications for the design of state aid and other fiscal policies.

Link to the article

10 June 2020 | News State aid
E.CA Economics contributed to the support study on State aid rules for environmental protection and energy published by DG Competition Read More

E.CA Economics contributed to the support study on State aid rules for environmental protection and energy, written in collaboration with teams from Centre for Competition Policy and the Brussels office of Sheppard Mullin, which led the study. This report provides DG Competition 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). Ela Głowicka co-authored the report in collaboration with Linda Gratz.

Link to the report

9 June 2020 | News State aid
E.CA Economics contributed to the retrospective evaluation of regional State aid framework published by DG Competition Read More

E.CA Economics was the leader of the retrospective evaluation of the regional State aid framework project and collaborated with teams from Firms and Markets Department at the Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung and the Brussels office of Sheppard Mullin. The report with the results of the evaluation was published by DG Competition on 2 June 2020. The study provides evidence-based assessment of the implementation of the RAF 2014 and its effects on regional development and competition. Hans W. Friederiszick, Ela Głowicka and Linda Gratz co-authored the study in collaboration with further E.CA staff Brecht Boone, Zachary Herriges, Harm van Leeuwen and Wiktor Owczarz.

Link to the report

8 June 2020 | News State aid
DG Competition published four studies evaluating State aid rules provided by the consortium led by E.CA Economics Read More

On 2 June 2020 DG Competition published support studies on the retrospective evaluation of State aid rules, which will be a basis for future Commission decisions about whether to further prolong or update the rules expiring in 2020.

The consortium of DIW Berlin, E.CA Economics, Lear, Sheppard Mullin and UEA Consulting under the leadership of E.CA Economics provided evaluation studies in four State aid areas: regional State aid, State aid for access to finance for SMEs, State aid rules for operating aid under the EU aviation framework and State aid rules for environmental protection and energy.

Link to the “Fitness check” announcement

and link to all four studies:

Retrospective evaluation of the regional aid framework

Evaluation support study on the EU rules on State aid for access to finance for SMEs

Support study for the evaluation of the rules for operating aid under the EU aviation framework

Retrospective evaluation support study on State aid rules for environmental protection and energy

20 April 2020 | News
Gregor Langus joins E.CA Economics Read More

E.CA Economics is proud to announce that Gregor Langus is joining the Brussels office as a new Director.

Gregor, who holds a Ph.D. from the European University Institute Florence, can look back on more than six years of work experience at the Chief Economist Team, DG COMP. During his two terms at the CET, he collaborated closely with three different Chief Economists and served under three Commissioners. In addition, Gregor held senior positions with major international consultancies in Brussels – CRA and Compass Lexecon.

Link to Press release

Link to GCR News article

12 March 2020 | News
We are hiring! Read More

E.CA Economics is looking for a Teamassistenz/Teamkoordination/Paralegal (m/w/d), Vollzeit (ggfs. auch Teilzeit möglich, min. 75%)

Link to job description DE/EN

Link to our careers page

Cartels and other anti-competitive agreements, ECA Economics
5 March 2020 | News
E.CA Economics at the MACCI Career Day in Mannheim – 5th March 2020 Read More

Benedikt Flügel and Jan-Christopher Rönn attended the MACCI Career Day that took place in Mannheim on 5th March 2020.

Link to the flyer of the event

Link to the website

17 February 2020 | News
TSE Executive Education Seminar Read More

TSE Executive Education Seminar

Dr. Hans W. Friederiszick  participated in the TSE Executive Education Seminar “Preparing for Court: What it Takes to Be an Effective Expert Witness” that was held at the Renaissance Hotel, Brussels on 13th February 2020. He was part of the Economists table in the “Cross Examination Roundtable” panel.

Link to programme

Link to event page

24 January 2020 | News
E.CA Contributor to the GCR Insight – Handbook of Competition Economics 2020 – Germany overview Read More

Hans W. FriederiszickSimone KohnzRainer Nitsche contributed to the Competition Economics Handbook 2020 – Germany overview – which is now live on GCR Insight.

Thomas Hildebrand, Principal E.CA Economics
20 January 2020 | News
Thomas Hildebrand promoted to Director Read More

E.CA Economics has promoted Thomas Hildebrand to director in Berlin.

Thomas joined E.CA Economics in 2011. He has extensive experience in supporting clients across various fields of competition economics, with a particular focus on cartel and information exchange cases and abuse of dominance cases. Thomas’ industry experience spans a broad variety of fields including grocery retailing, fast-moving consumer goods, chemicals, cement, refractories, automotive parts, trucks, freight forwarding, print/television/online advertising and digital markets.

Download press release here

Link to GCR News article

20 January 2020 | News
Promotions 2020 Read More

We are proud to announce the following promotions – Thomas Hildebrand, Director; Ela Glowicka and Anselm Mattes, Principal; Alia Schweiger, Associate Principal; Juri Demuth and Harm van Leeuwen, Manager; Paula Mäkelä, Thomas Nau and Juri Simons, Senior Economist. Congratulations – great success!

29 November 2019 | News
E.CA Economics at the Toulouse Business Networking Day – 29 November 2019 Read More

Valeria Plata and Juri Simons participated in the Toulouse Business Networking Day that was held Friday 29 November 2019 at the Toulouse School of Economics.

Link to the website

15 November 2019 | News
E.CA Economics at ACE Conference Read More

Hans W Friederiszick, Ela Glowicka, Moritz Schwarz, Alia Schweiger are at the ACE Conference held in Copenhagen on 14-15 November 2019. Hans W. Friederiszick hosted a panel on a national Danish merger and Ela Glowicka presented our analysis in the panel on the Horizon/Brink merger in Germany.

Link to the Program

Link to the Website

21 October 2019 | News
E.CA Economics at the Barcelona GSE Consulting Day Read More

Alia Schweiger and Benedikt Flügel attended the Barcelona GSE Consulting Day on 21 October 2019

Link to the Career Fair

 

Open Positions, E.CA Economics
10 October 2019 | News
We are hiring! Read More

E.CA Economics is looking for Junior Economists and Interns, in particular for our Brussels office

For more information, please visit our Careers page

8 October 2019 | News
E.CA Economics attended the Tilburg University’s Inside Career Day 2019 Read More

Zach Herriges and Stefan Witte attended Tilburg University’s Inside the Business Day 2019 where they presented the firm and a case from the competition practice. They were delighted to meet a group of smart, interested and highly motivated students from all over the world to work the case study with them.

Link to the career fair

Alia Schweiger, Manager E.CA Economics
20 September 2019 | News
E.CA Economics presents at the UIA’s 10th Annual Business Law Forum in Vienna Read More

Alia Schweiger, Manager at E.CA Economics, will participate in a panel discussion on „E-Commerce & Platform Businesses: Legal Framework – A Moving Target for Producers, Brand Owners, Dealers and Consumers?“ at the UIA’s 10th Annual Business Law Forum on 20 & 21 September 2019 in Vienna.

Link to the 10th Annual Business Law Forum in Vienna

 

2 July 2019 | News
Theon van Dijk new Chief Economist at ACM Read More

Theon van Dijk, currently director at E.CA Economics’ office in Brussels, will be the new Chief Economist at the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) as of 1 October 2019.

 

Link to press release.

Link to the ACM press release.

1 July 2019 | News
E.CA Economics presenting at CRESSE 2019 Conference Read More

E.CA Economics Presenting at CRESSE 2019 Conference

Dr. Hans W. Friederiszick will be participating in a roundtable discussion on “Dealing with the digitalization of economies: should the enforcement rules be changed and how?”. Preceding the round table Fiona Scott Morton will give a the keynote address. The CRESSE 2019 14th  International Conference on Competition and Regulations will take place from 5th to 7th July in Rhodes (Greece).

Jan Melcher and Thomas Nau, will be attending courses and modules on Competition and Regulation at the 14th CRESSE Summer School and Conference that will take place from 29th June to 11th of July in Rhodes island, Greece.

 

30 June 2019 | News
E.CA Economics presented at The Antitrust Enforcement Symposium 2019, 28-29 June Read More

Dr. Hans W. Friederiszick spoke at this year’s Antitrust Enforcement Symposium in Oxford. He gave a presentation on the topic ‘Reconciling Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Regulation – The Concept of Vulnerable Markets With an Application to Online Food Platforms.’ This year it featured keynote speeches by Frédéric Jenny and Andreas Mundt.

Link to the programme.

Link to the presentation.

24 June 2019 | News
4th Annual BCCP Conference, Berlin, 21 June 2019 Read More

Dr. Hans W Friederiszick participated in the 4th Annual BCCP Conference “Regulatory Challenges in Digital Markets: The Rise of Corporate Power” that was held at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center on 21 June 2019. Dr. Friederiszick moderated the “Policy Roundtable: Consumer and Competition Policy in Times of Rising Corporate Power”.

Link to Programme

17 June 2019 | News
2019 Hal White Antitrust Conference, 9-11 June Read More

Rafael Aigner and Paula Mäkelä participated in the Bates White 2019 Hal White Antitrust Conference that was held in Washington DC from 9 to 11 June 2019. Both Rafaël and Paula presented their research in the Poster session on the Academic agenda.

Link to the Academic agenda

12 June 2019 | News
E.CA Economics to speak at Chillin’Competition conference on 14th June Read More

On 14th June, Chillin’Competition organised its conference “State Aid: Charting the Territory” and spoke about the future of state aid control in a post-Brexit world.

Speakers at the conference included Viktor Kreuschitz (Judge at the General Court), Vincent Verouden (European Commission), Penelope Papandropoulos (European Commission), Massimo Merola (BonelliErede), José Luis Buendía Sierra (Garrigues), Jacques Derenne (SheppardMullin), Alfonso Lamadrid de Pablo (Garrigues), Andreas von Bonin (Freshfields), Juliette Enser (Competition and Markets Authority), Christian Jordal (EFTA Surveillance Authority), Pablo Ibáñez Colomo (LSE and College of Europe) and many others.

Link to the conference website

Europe, ECA Economics
21 May 2019 | News
E.CA Economics co-authors paper on state aid control post-Brexit Read More

On May 20, the European Policy Centre (EPC) published the report “Ensuring a post-Brexit level playing field” on future EU-UK trading relations.

With contributions from Vincent Verouden (European Commision), Pablo Ibáñez Colomo (LSE), David Baldock (Senior Fellow, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)), Larissa Brunner (Policy Analyst), Emily Lydgate (Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Sussex; Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory), Marley Morris (Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)), Martin Nesbit (Senior Fellow and Head of Climate and Environmental Governance, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)), Jacques Pelkmans (Senior Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)), and Fabian Zuleeg (Chief Executive and Chief Economist)

Link to report

6 May 2019 | News
E.CA Economics spoke at ECLA Conference in Prague on 24-25 May 2019 Read More

E.CA Economics has participated in a panel of the 2nd Annual Conference of the European Competition Lawyers Association, on 24 and 25 May in Prague. The panel discussed the updating of the EC Block Exemption Regulation for vertical restraints.

Link to Brochure

Litigation, damages and arbitration, ECA Economics
28 March 2019 | News
E.CA cartel damages work mentioned in Juve article Read More

In a recent Juve article an E.CA team headed by Dr. Hans W. Friederiszick is mentioned and considered decisive for the withdrawal of a damages claims brought by Schlecker, Müller and Rossmann against chocolate and biscuit manufacturers.

 

Link to article