Recently, the Netherlands faced an obstacle of competition law assessment regarding sustainability initiatives which were intended to achieve certain sustainability goals. Under the cartel regulation, agreements which bring about marginal consumer disadvantages in addition to significant sustainability benefits are prohibited. To solve the tension between competition policy and environmental policy, the Dutch government proposed the Room for Sustainability Initiatives Act to the parliament. This article analyzes the contents of this legislative proposal as follows. First of all, relevant ministers decide whether the proposed sustainability initiatives are in line with “public interest” by, for example, utilizing social cost-benefit analysis（SCBA）so that consumer benefits and sustainability benefits are equally balanced. However, SCBA is a complicated method, and there are almost no legislative precedents with full-scale SCBA. Second, under this legislative proposal, as a competition authority, the Authority for Consumers and Markets（ACM）has the power to issue an opinion regarding the market effects of proposed sustainability initiatives. However, given the ACM’s limited authority to price, quality and consumer choice, the ACM does not advise the desirability of proposed sustainability initiatives. Third, there are also arguments from the perspective of the principle of sincere cooperation under Article 4（3）of the Treaty on European Union.

一橋大学大学院法学研究科

2021-03-10

日本語(jpn)

departmental bulletin paper（紀要論文）

VoR

10.15057/71603

1347-0388

AA1161370X

一橋法学

20

1

183

209

20巻1号(2021.3)

https://hdl.handle.net/10086/71603