New book ‘Regulation in Australia’ by Arie Freiberg

In May 2025 a second edition of Regulation in Australia was published.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the nature of regulation, its origins and development in Australia, why governments regulate, how they regulate, and who regulates whom at the federal, state and local government levels. Management of the regulatory process, the principles of good regulation and ‘red tape’ in regulation are examined. The role of soft law, prescriptive, performance-based and principle-based regulation, as well as the use of rewards and incentives in regulation is also explored.

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More restrictive measures in the area of asylum and migration and the balance with the rule of law

Introduction

Due to the high influx of migrants to the European Union (EU), migration is a European challenge that requires a European solution. The EU legislator’s aim is to realize a comprehensive approach that aims at strengthening and integrating key EU policies on migration, asylum, border management and integration. With firm but fair rules, these policies are designed to manage and normalize migration for the long term, providing EU countries with the flexibility to address the specific challenges they face, and with the necessary safeguards to protect people in need. The national courts and the Court of Justice have the task to review whether these new rules are in line with EU law and the fundamental rights of the migrant in order to protect the rule of law.

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Innovation in EU Competition Law: Towards a New Frontier

By Lisanne Hummel*

Introduction

Europe’s capacity for innovation has come under intense scrutiny in recent years, recently fueled by reports from Draghi and Letta that highlight a widening innovation gap between Europe, China, and the U.S. With escalating geopolitical tensions and the increasing urgency for Europe to maintain independent competitiveness in especially digital markets, the mission letters to incoming Commissioners underscore the vital role of disruptive innovation. These letters establish Europe’s competitiveness as intrinsically linked to its ability to prioritize groundbreaking innovations.

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[REPOST]* Turkey as a ‘safe third country’? The Court of Justice’s judgment in C-134/23 Elliniko Symvoulio

This post examines Case C-134/23, where the CJEU ruled that asylum claims cannot be deemed inadmissible if readmission to a safe third country is unfeasible. The decision represents progress in ensuring access to asylum procedures, but it highlights persistent flaws in the EU system of remedies.

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[REPOST] How to Define Relevant Labour Markets?*

The application of competition rules to the conduct and concentrations of employers has been called ‘the new frontier for competition policy’ (see here). This so-called ‘labour antitrust’ has been growing rapidly especially on the other side of the Atlantic over the last fifteen years (see here). ‘All eyes are on labor’ in the United States even in 2024 (see here).

Competition between employers is receiving an increasing attention also on the old continent. We have seen enforcement cases in various European countries (see here). The European Commission reported this summer that it started its first ever formal investigation into no-poach agreements. Earlier this year, the Commission also published a policy brief called Antitrust in Labour Markets.

Yet, markets on which undertakings compete for labour are completely absent from the revised Market Definition Notice (Notice), which the Commission published this year. This is a pity because including labour markets would have given more credibility to the Commission’s mission to intervene in these markets and it would also have provided guidance to other enforcers of EU competition law. My newest working paper reflects on the omission and discusses how to define relevant labour markets.

 

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From tough to tender? A new change in enforcement regime of the Dutch social security system

This blog post is based on the book Van hard naar hart? Handhavers over de menselijke maat in de Participatiewet. This research is funded by the Gratama stichting.

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Google AdTech – Break Up or Break Out?

Over the past decade, no firm has faced more scrutiny for violating competition laws than Google. The avalanche of cases against the firm—over 100 around the world—is almost unprecedented. In that light, the question facing competition authorities is increasingly not whether Google has broken the law, but rather what to do about it.

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Predictive Justice and the AI Act: the reuse of sensitive data for bias mitigation

European policies and legal instruments are increasingly drawn to a technocentric approach regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) fairness – that is, they pay a lot of attention to the technical issues of AI, such as ensuring that datasets are balanced and free from errors. With this blog post, I argue that it is not sufficient to focus solely on the technical aspects of fairness without also considering the social, political, and economic systems that shape AI’s development and deployment. Instead, a broader socio-technical approach should be considered. This post is based on my recent publication “Predictive justice in light of the new AI Act proposal”.

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Ecosystem theories of harm: application and enforcement (by Manu Batra, Paul de Bijl and Timo Klein)

Ecosystems

The 2023 Booking/eTraveli merger prohibition by the European Commission (EC) was the first EC merger prohibition concerning digital platforms. Booking offered primarily a hotel online travel agency (OTA), amongst other smaller offerings in flights and car rentals, while eTraveli offered a flight OTA. The concept of an ‘ecosystem’ that was used in the Commission’s theory of harm was unique. Though the concept of an ecosystem has been used in other cases, also outside of merger control, the term still lacks an accepted universal definition. Also unclear is the extent to which such a theory of harm differs from conventional theories of harm, what the standards for evidence under this theory of harm are, and how such theories of harm would affect enforcement.

In this context, we recently published an article defining ecosystems, and potential theories of harm concerning ecosystems. In this blog post we investigate how these theories might change the enforcement of merger control.

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100th Blog Post on EU Law Enforcement: pertinent questions that deserve our future research and societal attention. Call for Blog Posts (by Kelly Blount, Zlatina Georgieva and Miroslava Scholten)

Today, our blog celebrates its 100th blog post. Since September 2016, we issue at least one blog post per month, always on the last day of the month. The blog is open to anyone wanting to contribute, also in a different language than English. Our aim is to create a central point for information, research and discussion on the pertinent issues related to the so far understudied theme of the enforcement of EU law. Until now, we have had blog posts, which would announce a new book, idea or project, discuss a recent court judgement or legislative proposal or act, give a comment on a publication or summary of a recent event, to name but a few of our topics. The form of the blog post is thus flexible and inclusive.

This special blog post presents a discussion on some of the pertinent questions that the editing team sees as important in their respective research fields and warrants our further attention and investigation. This post is thus also a call for future blog posts and other initiatives, which could support and enhance the main theme of the blog – ultimately, to aid legislative and enforcement practices (in the EU as well as other jurisdictions) and to promote beneficial policies for society. Ideas for blog posts and full texts could be sent directly to the editors, whose contact details are to be found in the right pane on this website.

But first of all, why blogging?

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