Richard Bunworth (School of Law Doctoral Scholar)
Research Area
EU Competition Law
(opens in a new window)richard.bunworth@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor
Dr Mary Catherine Lucey
Thesis title
Time to Reintroduce "Welfare" into the Consumer Welfare Standard? Reorienting the European Commission's Focus in Merger Control Away from Prices and Towards Broader Public Interest Factors
Abstract
The consumer welfare standard has become central in the analysis of potential harm from proposed mergers in the EU. Although suggestive of a broad analysis that considers general concerns of consumers, it has effectively been reduced to an assessment of economic efficiency and the impact of a merger on prices. This emphasis upon economic criteria has led the European Commission and other national competition agencies to marginalise public interest considerations when conducting reviews.
Therefore, the thesis analyses whether the consumer welfare standard should be amended to include public interest considerations alongside efficiency, with specific reference to gender, race, and social inclusion, and how these factors could be incorporated in a coherent manner.
Biography
Richard is a PhD student at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin. He studied law as an undergraduate at Trinity College, Dublin. Following completion of his undergraduate degree, Richard read for the Bachelor of Civil Laws degree at the University of Oxford. In addition, Richard obtained a Master of Arts degree from King’s College London.
Richard is a solicitor, qualified to practice in Ireland and the UK, having worked in the finance department of one of Ireland’s foremost corporate law firms. Prior to that, he held a role as a researcher at a commercial litigation firm in London. He has also competed in the Willem C. Vis Commercial Arbitration Moot, representing the Law Society of Ireland.
Richard has published articles in a number of international peer-reviewed journals, including the European Competition Law Review, the International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, and the International Sports Law Journal. Richard’s primary research interests lie in EU competition law. He has acted as a consultant to the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and was recently appointed as a Non-Governmental Advisor to the CCPC.
Research funding/awards
Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship
UCD Sutherland School of Law Doctoral Scholarship
Laura Bassi Scholarship
UCD School Research Award to fund project in 2023
Nominated for the Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards Best Student Paper 2022
Nominated for the Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards Best Student Paper 2021
Publications
Richard Bunworth, ‘In the Market for a New Form of Abuse? Google Shopping and the Law on Self-Preferencing in the EU’ (2022) 21 Hibernian Law Journal 121
Richard Bunworth, ‘A Presumption of Harm in Innovation Merger Cases – Creating an Unfair Barrier?’ (2021) 42(11) European Competition Law Review 622
Richard Bunworth, ‘Pre-Emptive Acquisitions in the Technology Sector: Is it Time to Reconsider the Turnover Thresholds?’ (2021) 52(6) IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 734
Richard Bunworth, ‘CK Telecoms UK Limited v Commission – A Significant Impediment to Effective Protection’ (2021) 52(3) IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 283
Richard Bunworth, ‘The European Commission’s innovation spaces approach—a step into the unknowable?’ (2021) 42(3) European Competition Law Review 140
Richard Bunworth, ‘Egg-shell skulls or institutional negligence? The liability of World Rugby for incidents of concussion suffered by professional players in England and Ireland’ (2016) 16 The International Sports Law Journal 82
Conferences
‘It’s Time to Acknowledge the Socially Conscious Consumer in the Room: Competition Law and the Need for a Shift Away from the Consumer Welfare Standard’ - Academic Society for Competition Law – ASCOLA Annual Conference – University of Athens - 29 June - 1 July 2023
‘Step Aside, Consumer Welfare Standard: It is Time for the Socially Conscious Consumer to Take Centre Stage’ - Sustainable Global Economic Law – University of Amsterdam Summer School – 19-21 June 2023
‘It’s Time to Acknowledge the Socially Conscious Consumer in the Room' - Workshop on Data, Concepts and Measurement in Research on Law and Courts - University of Oslo - 25-28 September 2023
‘The Brussels Effect and the diffusion of the EU’s social values through competition law’ - Young Competition Law Scholars Conference – University of Vienna – 5-6 September 2024