Presentation delivered at the EUI in Florence during the FSR C&M, CMPF and FCP Annual Scientific Seminar on 'Competition, Regulation and Pluralism in the Online World' (22-23 March 2018).

1. The ‘ECN Plus Project': Updating the ECN
to Face the Challenges of the Online World
Gabriele Carovano
Annual Scientific Seminar on the Economics, Law and Policy
of Communications and Media
Competition, Regulation and Pluralism in the Online World
22-23 March 2018
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2. Outline
1. Different kinds of cooperation
2. ECN’s problematics
3. Proposed solutions
4. Conclusions
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3. Kinds of Cooperation: Theory
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Exchange of
Information
Exchange of
Expertise
Help in carrying
out
investigations
Ex-ante
Priorities
Final
Decisions
Technical
Cooperation ü ü ü
Political
Cooperation ü
Techno-Political
Cooperation ü ü ü ü
Single Co-
Enforcement ü ü ü ü ü

4. The ECN’s Problematics
• Lack of transparency
• Hierarchical structure
• Absence of a resolution mechanism
to solve internal disagreements
• Absence of incentives for parallel
investigations
Endogenous Problematics
• Art. 3(2) of Regulation
1/2003
Exogenous Problematics
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5. Historical Evolution
Regulation 17/1962
formalised the
‘Centralised Regime’
Crisis of the
‘Centralised Regime’
Regulation 1/2003 and
the so-called
‘Decentralised Regime’
Endogenous Problematics
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6. ECN’s Problematics in the ‘Digital Era’
Digital Markets:
1. Present a new range of challenges for competition enforcers
2. Do not respect national borders
3. Increase the level of integration of national markets
4. Public enforcement in a ‘National Digital Market’ will also produce
effects in other MS
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8. The ‘ECN Grand Chamber'
The official motto of the ECN should be:
Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno
Un pour tous, tous pour un
Einer für alle, alle für einen
Uno para todos, todos para uno
Uno per tutti, tutti per uno
One for all, all for one
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Um por todos, todos por um

9. The ‘ECN Grand Chamber’
1.One President
2.One or more Vice-Presidents
3.A minimum of one representative for each ECN member with full
authority to act on behalf of its NCA
4.The EC should oversee referrals to the Grand Chamber
5.Voting system: Qualified Majority Voting system (majority of 55%)
6.Each NCA’s vote would have the same value in the first round voting
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10. The ‘ECN Grand Chamber’
1.To set enforcement priorities and policy issues (Type 1 scenario)
2.To solve intra-network conflicts (Type 2 scenario)
3.To expand the territorial effects of an NCA’s decision across Europe (Type
3 scenario)
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11. Conclusions
1. The ECN needs an upgrade
2. The ECN Grand Chamber may be one of the
less distortive solution
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12. Thank you for
your attention
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