Blockchain, Behavioural Remedies, and Merger Control: How can access remedies do better?

Abstract

As once said by former Deputy Director-General of the European Commission, Carles Esteva Mosso, a merger remedy is ‘an artificial intervention in the economy that could go wrong and does go wrong’ at times.1 Although a large part of the recent European competition law enforcement was focused on the tech industry, the authority has not used innovative technology in its merger interventions. But what if technology was the missing piece to improve merger remedies’ results in several sectors such as energy, telecom, and technology itself? In order to bridge this gap, this paper will explore the combination of two contrasting materials: blockchain and merger control. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is a potential use case of blockchain in merger access remedies design and implementation.2 Ultimately, it intends to contribute to the computational antitrust research agenda, by virtue of exploring how blockchain technology can aid better enforcement and management of merger policy.3