Review: EU Competition Law – An Antitrust Primer
Reading time: 3 minutes
I am delighted to have been asked to provide a review for David Flint’s latest book – his 23rd publication, and that includes Stair and Halsbury. Even for a full-time academic that would constitute an impressive body of work; for a busy solicitor like Mr Flint it is nothing short of incredible. He is now a very rare beast in legal Scotland: someone who, like the sadly deceased Professor Robert Rennie, commands street credibility in both theory and practice.
I have to confess I am no expert in EU law, but I suspect that is exactly why I was asked. My career has been in the profession, teaching the profession and regulating and supporting the profession. I am not an expert in the material, but I can claim a certain expertise in knowing what solicitors need. Others can judge the detailed and arcane. My task is to assess the utility of the book as a portal to such areas.
The author nails his colours to the mast in his dedication to his grandchildren, “in the hope that by the time they are entering adulthood, we will once again have rejoined the European project and not require to look on as outsiders”.
So, who is this very readable book for? Who needs an antitrust primer? Surely we did away with all that nasty, pinko, costly European rubbish? Hardly, and Flint deals with this in his preface. It is for solicitors giving advice to clients with international markets. For academics in this field. And not just lawyers. For directors and secretaries of such companies looking for ready answers to issues they may have.
Concerned about prohibited horizontal agreements? Perplexed by vertical block exemption rights? Need a handy guide to procedures for controlling merger operations between enterprises? This is the book for you.
Perhaps not a publication to be read in a single sitting, it is a superb portal for this whole field of law. A primer, yes. Superficial, absolutely not. The nine-page table of contents makes it easy to access and utilise. It is 127,000 well-written and referenced words. It is fantastic value.
When I was younger and played a lot of chess, I had a pocket guide to the openings. It described itself as a vade mecum. The expression always intrigued me and my ropey O-Level Latin allowed me to translate it as, “a handbook or guide that is kept constantly at hand for consultation”. And that is exactly what David Flint has delivered – a primer. The hint is in the name: it gets you ready.
Douglas Mill
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