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About
Pablo Ibáñez Colomo is Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also an Ordinary Member at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and one of the Joint General Editors of the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice (Oxford University Press). He received a PhD from the European University Institute in June 2010 (Jacques Lassier Prize). Before joining the EUI as a Researcher in 2007, he taught for three years at the Law Department of the College of Europe (Bruges), where he also completed an LLM in 2004. He has been a Visiting Professor at several institutions around the world, including Aix-Marseille University, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Kobe University and Torcuato di Tella University.
Research
Research Interests
Pablo’s work focuses on the substantive and institutional dimensions of competition law and regulation (in particular in the digital and telecommunications arena). He is particularly interested in the way the various actors in the institutional landscape interact with one another and how this interaction shapes the discipline. While he has followed closely developments at the EU level, his outlook is global in scope.
Publications
The New EU Competition Law (Bloomsbury, 2023)
This book provides the first comprehensive account of the New EU Competition Law: an emerging understanding of the discipline that breaks from the consensus of the early 2000s and that ventures into uncharted territories. It discusses the shift from traditional enforcement in the industrial era to the sort of intervention that a knowledge-based economy demands. It presents the changes that the field is undergoing and illustrates them by reference to the most significant developments.
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The Shaping of EU Competition Law (Cambridge, 2018)
Based on a unique and comprehensive database, The Shaping of EU Competition Law combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to shed light on the evolution of EU competition law. It brings a new perspective to some of the most topical issues in the field including due process and the intensity of judicial review. The author's main purpose is to examine how the institutional structure influences the substance of EU competition law provisions. He seeks to identify patterns in the behaviour of the European Commission and the EU Courts and how they interact with each other. In particular, his analysis considers how the European Commission reacts to the case law and whether, and in what instances, the EU courts defer to the analysis of the administrative authority. The analysis is supported by the database and an unprecedented array of statistics and figures free to view online.
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European Communications Law and Technological Convergence. Deregulation, Re-regulation and Regulatory Convergence in Television and Telecommunications (Wolters Kluwer, 2011)
This book presents a critical examination of the European regulatory reaction to technological convergence, tracing the explicit and implicit mechanisms through which emerging concerns are incorporated into regulation. It seeks to identify the patterns that underlie these responses to determine the extent to which the issues at stake, and the implications of intervention, are fully understood and considered by authorities. The focus of the analysis is placed on ‘conflict points’ – areas of overlap between regimes – the study of which has been largely neglected. The PhD thesis on which this monograph is based was awarded the 2011 Jacques Lassier Prize.
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Manual de Derecho de la Competencia (with L. Ortiz Blanco, Jeronimo Maillo Gonzalez-Orus and Alfonso Lamadrid de Pablo), Tecnos, 2008
- ‘The digital markets act: a new reality in the enforcement landscape’ Journal of European Competition Law and Practice (2026)
- ‘Implementing the digital markets act’ Journal of European Competition Law and Practice (2026)
- 'Judicial review in EU merger control: towards deference on issues of law?' European Law Open (2025)
- ‘Law and technocracy to protect democracy’ Journal of European Competition Law and Practice (2025) 16 (6) 341-2
- 'Remedies in EU Antitrust Law'Journal of Competition Law & Economics (2025)
- 'Resale price maintenance in EU competition law: understanding the significance of Super Bock' World Competition (2024) 47 (4) 407-426
- 'Restrictions by object under Article 101(1) TFEU: from dark art to administrable framework' (2024) Yearbook of European Law
- ’Competition on the merits’Common Market Law Review (2024) 61 (2) 387–416
- 'The coming of age of the coming of age of EU competition law' (2023) Journal of European Competition Law and Practice 14 (8) 457-458
- 'Form and substance in EU Competition Law' (2023) 46 World Competition 401-428
- 'The (Second) Modernisation of Article 102 TFEU: Reconciling Effective Enforcement, Legal Certainty and Meaningful Judicial Review' (2023) 14 Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 608-623
- ’Law, policy, expertise: hallmarks of effective judicial review in EU competition law’ (2023) 24 Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, 143–168
- 'Competition Law and Sports Governance: Disentangling a Complex Relationship' (2022) World Competition 45 (3) pp.323-50
- 'Future-proof regulation against the test of time: The evolution of European telecommunications regulation' (2022) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
- 'EU Merger Control Between Law and Discretion' (2021) 44 World Competition 347-372 [working paper available online]
- 'Anticompetitive Effects in EU Competition Law' (2021) 17 Journal of Competition Law & Economics 309–363 [a working paper also available here]
- 'The Draft Digital Markets Act: A Legal and Institutional Analysis' (2021) 12 Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 561–575 [a working paper also available here]
- 'The role and limits of competition law in digital markets: on the reports and the reforms proposed' (2021) 29 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 8-34 [a working paper also available here]
- 'Vertical Restraints after Generics and Budapest Bank' (2021) 18 Concurrences 8 [a working paper also available here]
- 'Territorial Restrictions in EU Competition Law: From Consten-Grundig To Ping and Pay-TV' in Adina Claici and Denis Waelbroeck (eds), Vertical Restraints in The Digital Economy: Vertical Block Exemption Regulation Reform and the Future of Distribution (Kluwer 2021) [a working paper also available here]
- 'The Legal Status of Pay-for-Delay Agreements in EU Competition Law: Generics (Paroxetine)' (2020) 57 Common Market Law Review 1933-1952 [a working paper also available here]
- 'Self-Preferencing: Yet Another Epithet in Need of Limiting Principles' (2020) 43 World Competition 417–446 [a working paper is also available here]
- 'Competition Law and Policy in the Digital Economy: Report From Spain' (with José Marino García García) in Daniel Mandrescu (ed), EU Competition Law and the Digital Economy: Protecting Free and Fair Competition in an Age of Technological (R)evolution: The XXIX FIDE Congress in The Hague, 2020 Congress Publications, Vol. 3 (Eleven 2020) 499-516 [a working paper is also available here]
- 'The evolution of EU antitrust policy: 1966-2017' (2020) 83 Modern Law Review 321-372 (with Andriani Kalintiri)
- 'Indispensability and abuse of dominance: from Commercial Solvents to Slovak Telekom and Google Shopping'Journal of European Competition Law & Practice (2019) 10, 532-551
- 'The future of Article 102 TFEU after Intel'J.E.C.L. & Pract. 2018, 9(5), 293-303
- 'Changing times for JECLAP, changing times for competition law' J.E.C.L. & Pract. 2017, 8(8), 477-478
- ‘On the notion of restriction of competition: what we know and what we don’t know we know’ in Damien Gerard, Massimo Merola and Bernd Meyring (eds), The Notion of Restriction of Competition: Revisiting the Foundations of Antitrust Enforcement in Europe (Bruylant 2017) (with Alfonso Lamadrid de Pablo)
- ‘Appreciability and De Minimis in Article 102 TFEU’Journal of European Competition Law & Practice (2016) 7 (10) pp.651-660
- 'State aid as a tool to achieve technology neutrality' (2016) European State Aid Law Quarterly 15 (3) pp.440-445
- 'Beyond the "More Economics-Based Approach": A Legal Perspective on Article 102 TFEU Case Law'C.M.L. Rev. 2016, 53(3), 709-739(first published in LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, 09-2016)
- 'EU Competition Law in the Regulated Network Industries' LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, 08-2016
- 'Article 101 TFEU and Market Integration' (2016) 12 Journal of Competition Law & Economics]; LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, 07-2016
- 'Post Danmark II: The Emergence of a Distinct 'Effects-Based' Approach to Article 102 TFEU'Journal of European Competition Law & Practice (2016) 7(2) 113-115
- 'Copyright Licensing and the EU Digital Single Market Strategy'LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, WPS 19-2015
- 'Restrictions on Innovation in EU Competition Law'European Law Review (2016) 41 (2) pp.201-219
- 'Post Danmark II, or the Quest for Administrability and Coherence in Article 102 TFEU'LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, WPS 15-2015
- 'Intel and Article 102 TFEU Case Law: Making Sense of a Perpetual Controversy'Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series WPS 29-2014 December 2014
- 'Towards More Competition in Pay TV Services?' LSE Law: Policy Briefing Papers 5/2014
- 'Discriminatory Conduct in the ICT Sector: A Legal Framework' in Gintare Surblyte (ed), Competition on the Internet – MPI Studies on Intellectual Property and Competition Law, vol 23 (Springer 2014) 63-79
- 'The Commission Investigation into Pay TV Services: Open Questions' Journal of European Competition Law and Practice (2014), 5(8) 531-541
- ‘Exclusionary Discrimination under Article 102 TFEU’Common Market Law Review (2014), 51(1) 141-163
- ‘State Aid Litigation before EU Courts (2004-2012): A Statistical Overview’Journal of European Competition Law and Practice (2013), 4(6) 469-484
- 'Three Shifts in EU Competition Policy: Towards Standards, Decentralization, Settlements' Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law (2013), 20(3), 363-385
- 'The Law on Abuses of Dominance and the System of Judicial Remedies'Yearbook of European Law (2013) pp.389-431
- 'Market failures, transaction costs and article 101(1) TFEU case law'European Law Review 2012, 37(5), 541-562
- ‘De minimis rule in competition law: An overview of EU and national case law’ (with Inge Govaere), e-Competitions Special Issue, April 2012
- 'Rules of purely sporting interest and EU competition law: why the Wouters exception is not necessary' Competition Law International 2012, 8(1), 54-58
- 'On the application of competition law as regulation: elements for a theory' Yearbook of European Law (2010), 29 261-306
- 'Judicial review in Article 102' (with Jean-Yves Art) in Federico Etro and Ioannis Kokkoris (eds), Competition Law and the Enforcement of Article 102 (OUP 2010)
- 'The Future of Communications Regulation after Ofcom's Pay-TV consultation', Utilities Law Review 2010, 18(3), 99-107
- 'Evolving Priorities and Rising standards: Spanish Law on Abuses of Market Power in the Light of the 2008 Guidance Paper' (with Luis Ortiz Blanco), in Lorenzo Pace (ed.), European Competition Law: The Impact Of The Commission’s Guidance On Article 102, Edward Elgar, 2011
- 'Article 82 EC as a “built-in” remedy in the system of Intellectual Property: the example of supplementary protection for pharmaceuticals in Italy', in Intellectual Property, Market Power and the Public Interest (2008), Peter Lang, pp. 119-142
- 'The most appropriate tool for a better targeted State aid policy' (co-author), in Economic Analysis of State Aid Rules - Contributions and Limits (2007), Lexxion, pp. 29-67
- 'Selectivity, Economic Advantage, Distortion of Competition and Effect on Trade' (co-author), in Economic Analysis of State Aid Rules - Contributions and Limits (2007), Lexxion, pp. 119-155
- 'Annotation on Case C-171/05 P, Laurent Piau, (with Denis Waelbroeck) Common Market Law Review (2006), vol. 43, n. 6, pp. 1743-1756
- 'Recent Developments on the Invocability of WTO Law in the EC: A Wave of Mutilation', European Foreign Affairs Review (2006), vol. 11, n.1, pp. 63-86
- 'The Revival of Antitrust Law in Argentina: Policy or Politics?', European Competition Law Review (2006) vol. 27, n.6, pp. 317-323
Teaching
Engagement and impact
External Activities
Ordinary Member, Competition Appeal Tribunal
Visiting Professor, College of Europe (Bruges): Droit des industries de réseau
Co-editor of Chillin’ Competition: http://chillingcompetition.com
Joint General Editor, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice