Regulating prices in the European Union

Establishing open and undistorted competition within the internal market is a primary goal of the EU legal framework. Price controls, by contrast, are among the clearest derogations from this overarching objective. Yet much price regulation continues to occur within the internal market, the legal treatment of which is recognised to raise exceptional issues in the context of both positive and negative integration. This article explores the approaches within the EU legal framework to price regulation, broadly construed. Following a theoretical inquiry of the institutional and ideological challenges posed, a range of regulatory circumstances is considered: from competition enforcement, to the free movement rules, to examples of direct regulation through EU law. A tentative explanation for the distinctive treatment of price regulation is then advanced, premised upon the axiomatic role of the price formative mechanism in motivating the entrepreneurial impulses which underpin the internal market. The aim is to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the challenges facing pursuit of ‘open and undistorted competition’ within a modern social market economy.