COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENTS AND THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE UNITED STATES ANTITRUST LAW

Abstract

Although social concerns are strongly present in the laws of the European Union and the United States, antitrust, or competition, law whose predominant objective is securing the correct working of the competition mechanism, constitutes a vital element of both legal systems. Social concerns remain outside the scope of antitrust (competition) law, which may lead to a very complicated situation between that law and social regulations. There are fields in which those sets of rules are complementary, yet it must be underlined that in some areas the objectives of labour law are different from, and even contrary to, the aims of antitrust (competition) law. The area most sensitive to potential conflicts are the regulations of labour law which are connected with collective bargaining. According to the EU and US law, antitrust (competition) law should not undermine the social objectives recognised by the laws of those states. There is, however, space in those laws in which collective labour agreements may be subject to antitrust (competition) law scrutiny.