In August 2006, Ben Van Rompuy started working at the Institute for European Studies (IES) as a doctoral researcher.

His research is concerned with the application of the EC antitrust rules in the audiovisual and telecommunications sectors. By assessing when and how considerations extraneous to antitrust law (cultural policy concerns, industrial policy concerns, the socio-cultural dimension of sport and the delivery of quality public services) are imported into the European Commission’s Article 81 EC decision-making related to these sectors, his research explores the boundaries and limits of EC antitrust law enforcement.

The analysis of the interaction between the core objectives of antitrust law and other, non-efficiency considerations is linked with the broader debate about the finality of antitrust law and policy, following an EC/US comparative perspective. It is observed that both in the EC and the US, the application of the antitrust rules has become less formalistic and increasingly relies on a more economic based analysis, according ever-greater weight to the objectives of economic efficiency and consumer welfare. The impact of this evolution for the taking into account of considerations in Article 81 EC assessments is examined.

Ben holds a Master's degree in Communication Sciences and in International and European Law, both from the Free University of Brussels (VUB). In 2009, he was a visiting research scholar at New York University (NYU).

Publications

• Van Rompuy, B. & Pauwels, C., “The recognition of the specificity of sport in the European Commission’s Article 81 EC decisional practice related to sports media rights”, in Parrish, R., Gardiner, S. & Siekmann, R. (eds.), EU, Sport, Law and Policy: Regulation, Re-regulation and Representation. TMC Asser Press, 2009.
• Ben Van Rompuy, 'Fair access to exclusive sports rights still a long shot in UK pay television market' (2009) 14 Communications Law - The Journal of Computer, Media and Telecommunications Law 109, 118
• Ben Van Rompuy, 'The Standard of Proof in EC Merger Control. Conclusions from the Sony BMG Saga' in Caroline Pauwels, Harri Kalimo, Karen Donders and Ben Van Rompuy (eds.), Rethinking Media and Communications Policies (VUB Press, Brussels 2009) 295-318
• Caroline Pauwels, Harri Kalimo, Karen Donders and Ben Van Rompuy (eds.), Rethinking Media and Communications Policies (VUB Press, Brussels 2009)
• Van Rompuy, B. “The Standard of Proof in EC Merger Control. Conclusions from the Sony BMG Saga”, IES working paper 4/2008, available at http://www.ies.be
• Van Rompuy B. & Pauwels, C., “The European Commission’s re-examination of the Sony BMG merger: a precedent-setting attempt to jump the fence”, GCP Online Magazine for Global Competition Policy, June 2008, no. 2.
• Van Rompuy, B. & Pauwels, C., “The recognition of the specificity of sport in the European Commission’s Article 81 EC decisional practice related to sports media rights”, Paper presented at the 3rd Sport & EU Annual Workshop: ‘The European Commissions White Paper on Sport’, 4-5 July 2008, Southport, UK.
• Van Rompuy, B. "Case comment: Implications for the Standard of Proof in EC Merger Proceedings: Bertelsmann and Sony Corp of America v Impala (C-413/06), ECJ", European Competition Law Review, September 2008, issue 10, 608-612.
• Donders, K., Van Rompuy, B. & Pauwels, C., “Concurrentie in het concurrentiebeleid? Op zoek naar coherentie in het Europese mededingingsbeleid voor de publieke omroep: een perspectief op de posities van de Europese Commissie en het Europese Hof van Justitie”, Paper presented at Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschappen, 8-9 February 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
• Van Rompuy, B. & Pauwels, C., “Is the standard of proof imposed by the European Courts undermining the efficiency of EC merger control? The Sony BMG joint venture case in perspective”, Paper presented at the EUSA Tenth Biennial International Conference, 17-19 May 2007, Montréal, Canada.
• Pauwels, C., De Vinck, S. & Van Rompuy, B. (2007). Can State Aid in the Film Sector Stand the Proof of EU and WTO Liberalisation Efforts? In K. Sarikakis (ed.). Media and Cultural Policy in the European Union. European Studies - An Interdisciplinary Series in European Culture, History and Politics (vol. 24) (pp. 23-43). Amsterdam-New York: Rodopi.
• Pauwels, C., De Vinck, S. & Van Rompuy, B. (2006). 'A Political-Economic Analysis of EU Initiatives in the Audiovisual Sector: Towards Competitive and Creative Content Industries?' Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR 2006), July 12-16, Vienna (Austria).

Recent weblog posts

• Article on fair access to exclusive sports rights in UK pay TV market (21 November 2009)
• Comment: How to Preserve Trust in Anti-Trust? (08 October 2009)
• SMIT contributes chapter to new book on EU sports law and policy (19 March 2009)
• Smit researcher disagrees with Media minister Geert Bourgeois (26 August 2008)
• SMIT contribution in GCP, The Online Magazine for Global Competition Policy (01 August 2008)
• SMIT presentation at AER's annual conference (11 June 2008)
• IES spring lecture series continues (21 April 2008)
• Succesful launch of the IES spring lecture series (11 March 2008)
• SMIT contributes to the latest volume of "European Studies" (22 August 2007)