Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union prohibits cartels and other agreements that could disrupt free competition in the European Economic Area's internal market . reads,

1. The following shall be prohibited as incompatible with the internal market all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States and which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the internal market, and in particular those which:

2. Any agreements or decisions prohibited pursuant to this article shall be automatically void.

3. The provisions of paragraph 1 may, however, be declared inapplicable in the case of:

which contributes to improving the production or distribution of goods or to promoting technical or economic progress, while allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit, and which does not:

Businesses ("undertakings") infringing the provisions of Article 101 are liable to unlimited fines by the European Commission, but the EU has no capability to impose prison sentences. Member States should not intervene here, as the Commission and the ECJ have the sole authority over EU competition law. However, Member States usually have their own domestic competition law which they may enforce, provided it is not contrary to EU law. The role of the Commission is the area is quasi-judicial and subject to appeal to the ECJ.

Conventional wisdom declares that the aim of domestic competition law (such as that of the UK) is to provide a remedy to litigants whose interests are damaged by the anti-competitive behaviour of others, whereas the EU takes a broader view and has the goal of maintaining transparent markets and a "level playing field". Thus, the main objectives of the EU competition law are to maintain openness and to unify the internal market; to ensure economic efficiency in the marketplace; to ensure the conditions of effective competition and competitiveness; and to protect consumers.

However, some argue that the goals of Article 101 TFEU (ex Article 81 EC) are unclear. There are two main schools of thought: the predominant view is that only consumer welfare considerations are relevant there. An alternative view is that other Member State and European Union public policy goals (such as public health and the environment) should also be considered there.

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