The essential facilities doctrine is a competition law tool that allows an
eco- nomic entity to demand access to a facility controlled by another economic
entity (with a dominant position
in the market for that facility) if access to the
facility is necessary to access
the downstream market.
The author attempts
to answer the research
question: How do selected competition policy paradigms
influence the understanding of the doctrine’s content and its execution? The
author presents the impact of selected competition policy paradigms on the
understanding and application of the doctrine
in the United States of America
and
the European Union, focusing on the Harvard School, the Chicago School,
and Ordoliberalism. He points out that the doctrine
was developed and peaked in
the United States of America at the time of the dominance of the Harvard
School. The doctrine’s influence began to wane with the rise of the Chicago
School, which ultimately eclipsed it within the legal framework. Before the
transition to the "more economic approach”, European competition law was deeply rooted in Ordoliberalism. This emphasises the imperative of interven-
tion in the market, a principle that contributed to the success of this
doctrine in the European
Union. As the ordoliberal influence on European competition law began to wane, so too did
the significance of the doctrine.
Key words: Harvard School,
Chicago School, Ordoliberalism, neo-Brandeis Movement, the Essential Facilities
Doctrine, competition law.