Law of the European Union - Essay Example

Competition law promotes and enhances competition in a given nation. This is because once they exist, different entrepreneurs have an equal chance to set up businesses that can compete with existing businesses. This is because in a nation with a jurisdiction that preserves competition laws, there is a good chance that more and more businesses can be opened up and this will provoke innovation and help businesses to seek the best results. Richard Whish stated that "As a general proposition competition law consists of rules that are intended to protect the process of competition in order to maximise consumer welfare"3.

This statement suggests that competition law ultimately seeks to protect the best interests of consumers. This paper examines the validity of this assertion through the examination of European Union Law. As a background to the examination of consumer interests, the research will examine the key component of market structures. The paper then goes on to explore European Union law to identify how competition law attains the end of protecting consumers. Market structures examines some key components of competition from the point of view of economics.

The basic assumption of market structures is that in every market, there are two dominant groups: buyers and sellers. Sellers are the entrepreneurs who produce goods and services for buyers. Sellers have a strong relationship with buyers because buyers provide revenue for sellers to remain productive and in business. So a basic assumption of this branch of economics is that the higher the price the higher the quantity produced4. Buyers on the other hand seek to spend the lowest amounts of money on goods and services.

So there is a kind of conflict between buyers and sellers. Whereas buyers seek the lowest prices, sellers seek to get the highest amount of revenue from buyers. This is the basis of