Starting from the recent ECJ decision in Albany, this article tries to rebuild the historical reasons of the possible contrast between collective bargaining and competition law. Moving from this historical analysis, the author shares the dissatisfaction expressed in the first comments on Albany. The less convincing is the Commission's thesis, according to which collective agreements could not fall within the notion of 'agreement among enterprises', contained in Art. 85 (now 81) of the Treaty. This is the reason why the author argues that we need a wide-ranged confrontation between labour law and competition law. Finally, the author identifies some hypotheses on the way in which law and economics may interact in this matter, either on the level of the legislation in force or on that of the future one.
International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations