11 - 13 July 2018
The Role of Data and Innovation for Competition. Competition Concerns in the Air Transport [archived]
Summary Top
The training on the role of data and innovation for competition and specific competition concerns in the air transport was held on 09-11 July 2018 at RIU Pravets Golf & SPA Resort, Pravets. 13 national judges attended the training.
The training provided the link with the third main ‘non-economic’ rationale of the evolving competition policy, namely data. The judges learnt about the importance of data as an input for innovation and disruptive entry. They discussed the various data-related competition concerns in the data-driven economy and the essential facilities doctrine and its applicability to data.
The training focused on the complex relationships revealed by the interplay between data protection, consumer protection law and competition law. In addition, it presented the importance of the digital price comparison tools for transparency in the digital sector.
Finally, the training paid attention to the airline industry as a case study typical of its international nature, strict rules and paramount competition issues. Through these lens, the second part of the event considered airport charges, market power and abuse of dominance, vertical relations between airports and airlines, airline competition and the impact of dynamic pricing algorithms.
Agenda Top
Day 1, 11 July 2018 (Wednesday)
| Time | Subject |
| 08:30 – 09:00 | Registration of Participants in Day 1 and Provision of Materials |
| 09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome Speech and Introduction to the Project and Its Activities by the Project Manager Alexandra Tsvetkova, Director of LIBRe Foundation |
| Module 1. The Importance of Data as an Input for Innovation and Disruptive Entry | |
| 09:15 – 10:45 | Data-driven Innovation: the Essential Role of Data for Product Innovation and Service Optimisation Speaker: Ivo Emanuilov, Expert in IT Law and Data Protection |
| 10:45 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Big Data, Analytics and Their Impact on Commercial Strategies: Big Data in Air Transport Speaker: Ivo Emanuilov, Expert in IT Law and Data Protection |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch |
| Module 2. Data-related Competition Concerns in the Data-driven Economy | |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Data-related Competition Concerns in the Data-driven Economy Concentrations driven by the desire to accumulate data. Implications of data protection and competition law perspectives Markets for data in addition to the relevant markets for the services provided to users and advertisers User-lock-in as a facilitator of exploitative conduct Refusal of access to datasets as a breach under Article 102 TFEU Speaker: Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef, Assistant Professor at Tilburg Law School |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee Break |
| 15:30 – 17:30 | The Essential Facilities Doctrine and Its Applicability to Data as an Asset Speaker: Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef, Assistant Professor at Tilburg Law School |
| 19:00 – 22:00 | Dinner |
Day 2, 12 July 2018 (Thuesday)
| Time | Subject |
| 08:30 – 09:00 | Registration of Participants in Day 2 |
| Module 3. Interplay between Data Protection, Consumer Law and Competition Law | |
| 09:00 – 10:30 | Comparison of the objectives of EU competition and data protection law Discussion: Data protection as a non-price parameter of competition? Speaker: Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef, Assistant Professor at Tilburg Law School |
| 10:45 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
| Module 4. Price Comparison Tools and Price Transparency in the Digital Sector | |
| 11:00 - 12:30 | Benefits for consumers Impact on suppliers and overall effect on competition Speaker: Ivo Emanuilov, Expert in IT Law and Data Protection |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch |
| Module 5. Airport Competition in the EU | |
| 13:30 – 14:15 | Airports as Two-sided Businesses Airport charges and competition law: types of charges and pricing factors in the context of EU Directive 12/2009 Economic viability of airports Speaker: Atty. Stamatis Varsamos, Expert in Aviation Law |
| 14:15 – 15:00 | Airport Market Power and Abuse of Dominance Barriers to entry State aid Price undercutting Typical constraints for airport competition Speaker: Atty. Stamatis Varsamos, Expert in Aviation Law |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee Break |
| 15:30 – 17:30 | Airport charges imposed by airports: price differentiation, rebates and discounts Review of European Commission’s case law: Decision 369/1995 Charleroi Airport, Decision 109/98 Manchester airport, Decision 393/2004 Charleroi Airport Review of the Court of Justice of the EU’s case law: Case C-163/1999 Portugal, Case T-129/85 Aéroports de Paris, Case T-196/04 Ryanair and others Speakers: Atty. Stamatis Varsamos, Expert in Aviation Law Dr. Miroslava Marinova, Expert in Economics and Competition Law |
| 19:00 – 22:00 | Dinner |
Day 3, 13 July 2018 (Friday)
| Time | Subject |
| 08:30 – 09:00 | Registration of Participants in Day 3 |
| Module 6. Airline Competition | |
| 09:00 – 10:30 | Business model of airline operators Airline mergers and horizontal agreements (alliances) Barriers to entry: access to airport slots, loyalty and pricing strategies by airports Forum shopping by airline companies due to tax and labour law considerations Discussion: are state-subsidized “Gulf” airlines a threat for EU airline competition? Speakers: Atty. Stamatis Varsamos, Expert in Aviation Law Dr. Miroslava Marinova, Expert in Economics and Competition Law |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
| Module 7. Low Cost Carriers Under Scrutiny | |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | The emergence of low cost carriers (LCCs) and their effect on airline competition Business strategies and economies of scale: cheap airport hubs, jet fuel hedging, whole plane - economy cabin, provision of bare bones services Speakers: Dr. Miroslava Marinova, Expert in Economics and Competition Law Atty. Stamatis Varsamos, Expert in Aviation Law |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch / Closure of the Event |
Venue Top
The training on the application оf EU Competition Law tools and concepts to digital markets was held on 11-13.07.2018 at RIU Pravets Golf & SPA Resort, Pravets.
LIBRe Foundation provided each participant in the training with hotel accommodation (3 nights for the period 10.07.2018 – 12.07.2018, including breakfast and tourist tax for a single-room accommodation), as well as lunches, dinners, and coffee breaks for each training day, in accordance with the training schedule. The participant package included free use of thermal zone, SPA centre, inside swimming pool, fitness centre, and Internet.
Each participant was reimbursed for their travel costs.
Speakers Top
Inge Graef is Assistant Professor at Tilburg Law School with affiliations to the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT) and the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC). The focus of Inge's research is on competition enforcement in the digital economy. She is particularly interested in the interface between competition law and other fields of EU law such as data protection, intellectual property and electronic communications law. Other research interests include the Digital Single Market and net neutrality. In her doctoral thesis, Inge explored the interaction between competition law and data on online platforms, and the extent to which data protection can be protected as a non-efficiency concern in competition policy.
Dr. Miroslava Marinova is an expert with a Master Degree in Economics and a PhD in Competition Law (University of Reading, UK). She acted as a case handler at the Bulgarian Commission on Protection of Competition for ten years (2004-2014). Currently, she is working as a freelance expert in Competition Law and Economics on specific cases across Europe.
Atty. Stamatis Varsamos is an aviation attorney with sixteen years of experience on airports regulatory, operating, procurement and commercial issues pursuant to national, international and EU aviation and procurement law, focusing particularly on airport charges, airline/airport relations, the development of the legal concept for the provision of ground handling and PRM services at Athens airport, waste disposal and the negotiation/conclusion of commercial concession agreements (BOTs’ & retail).Member of of Airports Council International (ACI Europe) Ground Handling & State aid task force representing Athens International Airport.
Ivo Emanuilov is a lawyer, researcher and former software developer with extensive knowledge of the technology sector. He graduated from Sofia University with a degree in law. He also obtained a degree in English and European Union Law from the University of Cambridge and an LLM Intellectual Property and ICT Law from KU Leuven. Ivo is an experienced researcher and consultant focusing on the interdisciplinary aspects at the intersection of technology and law. His experience spans the domains of privacy and data protection, information security, privacy and security risk management, privacy engineering and automated and autonomous technologies in transport.
Presentations Top
Day 1, 11 July 2018
- The Importance of Data as an Input for Innovation and Disruptive Entry (Part 1): Data-driven Innovation: the Essential Role of Data for Product Innovation and Service Optimisation, Ivo Emanuilov (available only in Bulgarian)
- The Importance of Data as an Input for Innovation and Disruptive Entry (Part 2): Big Data, Analytics and Their Impact on Commercial Strategies - Big Data in Air Transport, Ivo Emanuilov (available only in Bulgarian)
- Data-related Competition Concerns in the Data-driven Economy (Part 1), Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
- Data-related Competition Concerns in the Data-driven Economy (Part 2): The Essential Facilities Doctrine and Its Applicability to Data as an Asset, Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
Day 2, 12 July 2018
- Interplay between Data Protection, Consumer Law and Competition Law, Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
- Price Comparison Tools and Price Transparency in the Digital Sector, Ivo Emanuilov (available only in Bulgarian)
- Airport Competition in the EU (Part 1): Airports as Two-sided Businesses, Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
- Airport Competition in the EU (Part 2): Airport Market Power and Abuse of Dominance, Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
- Airport Competition in the EU (Part 2): Airport Market Power and Abuse of Dominance (continue), Dr. Miroslava Marinova (available only in Bulgarian)
Day 3, 13 July 2018
- Airline Competition, Dr. Miroslava Marinova (available only in Bulgarian)
- Low Cost Carriers Under Scrutiny, Dr. Miroslava Marinova (available only in Bulgarian)
Video (by Modules) Top
Day 1, 11 July 2018
- The Importance of Data as an Input for Innovation and Disruptive Entry (Part 1): Data-driven Innovation: the Essential Role of Data for Product Innovation and Service Optimisation, Ivo Emanuilov (available only in Bulgarian)
- The Importance of Data as an Input for Innovation and Disruptive Entry (Part 2): Big Data, Analytics and Their Impact on Commercial Strategies - Big Data in Air Transport, Ivo Emanuilov (available only in Bulgarian)
- Data-related Competition Concerns in the Data-driven Economy (Part 1), Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
- Data-related Competition Concerns in the Data-driven Economy (Part 2): The Essential Facilities Doctrine and Its Applicability to Data as an Asset, Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
Day 2, 12 July 2018
- Interplay between Data Protection, Consumer Law and Competition Law, Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
- Price Comparison Tools and Price Transparency in the Digital Sector, Ivo Emanuilov (available only in Bulgarian)
- Airport Competition in the EU (Part 1): Airports as Two-sided Businesses, Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
- Airport Competition in the EU (Part 2): Airport Market Power and Abuse of Dominance, Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
- Airport Competition in the EU (Part 2): Airport Market Power and Abuse of Dominance (continue), Dr. Miroslava Marinova (available only in Bulgarian)
Day 3, 13 July 2018
- Airline Competition, Atty. Stamatis Varsamos (in English) / Dr. Miroslava Marinova (available only in Bulgarian)
- Low Cost Carriers Under Scrutiny, Dr. Miroslava Marinova (available only in Bulgarian)
Training Proceedings Top
"The Role of Data and Innovation for Competition. Competition Concerns in the Air Transport" Training Proceedings (2018) presents the spakers' and project team's efforts to further enhance the training conducted in July 2018 by providing additional materials and guidance on the topics discussed.
The training proceedings include:
'Data-driven Innovation: the Essential Role of Data for Product Innovation and Service Optimisation' by Ivo Emanuilov (only in Bulgarian)
'Big Data, Analytics and Their Impact on Commercial Strategies - Big Data in Air Transport' by Ivo Emanuilov (only in Bulgarian)
'Big Data and EU Competition Law' by Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
'Data Access: Competition Law and beyond' by Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
'Interplay between Data Protection, Consumer Law and Competition Law' by Dr. I.J.M.A. (Inge) Graef
'Price Comparison Tools and Price Transparency in the Digital Sector' by Ivo Emanuilov (only in Bulgarian)
'Short Synopsis of the EU Air Law Regime' by Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
'Regulation 1008/2008: The Licensing Requirements' by Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
'The Application of Competition Rules in Air Transport' by Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
'Airport Market Power and Abuse of Dominance' by Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
'Case Law on Airport Charges' by Atty. Stamatis Varsamos
'Airline Competition' by Dr. Miroslava Marinova (only in Bulgarian)
'Low Cost Carriers Under Scrutiny' by Dr. Miroslava Marinova (only in Bulgarian)
The texts are selected and prepared for publishing by the CONNECTOR project team in the face of Alexandra Tsvetkova, Project Manager.
The preparation and publication of these proceedings is organized and coordinated by LIBRe Foundation.
Further Information Top
For more information on the event or if you wish to change the submitted information related to your dates of arrival and departure, you could contact:
Project Office |
GSM: (+359) 885 038 359 |
E-mail: office@constantproject.eu |
These projects are implemented with the financial support of the Training of National Judges Programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement No. SI2.738369-HT.4989, 2016-2017, and Grant Agreement No. SI2.763330-HT.5232, 2017-2018.