The economists at RBB have advised on a large number of cases of alleged infringement involving cartel activity and other horizontal agreements. These include investigations by the European Commission under Article 81, by the UK authorities under Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998 (and its predecessors), as well as by other national authorities, including the NMa in the Netherlands and the German Bundeskartellamt. We have also worked on appeals before the European Court, as well as on cases brought before national courts.

Our experience covers:

	Cartels and their effects
	Economists’ contributions to cartel cases generally focus on assessing the extent to which cartel agreements were successful in raising prices above competitive levels. Our familiarity with the way competitive markets operate under various conditions allows us to assess the extent to which observed market outcomes are consistent with competitive explanations.
	Collective selling arrangements
	In some settings, a prohibition on collective selling arrangements may lead to undesirable coordination failures and free-rider problems. Our expertise allows us to identify where and why such adverse effects are likely to arise, and to articulate the potential benefits of collective selling in such cases.
	Parallel trade restrictions
	We are equipped with the skills to assess the extent to which price differences across countries are the result of tax and other market distortions beyond the control of firms. We have also assisted clients in identifying when restrictions on parallel trade enable an efficient recovery of fixed costs through differential pricing and when they permit sales to be made in a territory or to a customer group that could not otherwise be served.