"Insufficient coherence exists between the proposals to harmonize the law of contracts/obligations and EC competition law. Although the Commission has supported both the initiatives to create principles of contract law and a Common Frame of Reference on the one hand and rules concerning damages for antitrust infringements on the other hand, their mutual influences are limited. This led e.g. to the result that the Draft Common Frame of Reference contains rules that are difficult to reconcile with EC competition law and that the common frame of reference provides that trivial damages should not be compensated while the DGComp strives to enhance compensation for scattered damages resulting from antitrust infringements. Other issues on the cross-roads between the law of obligations and EC competition law include the possibility to use the tort of interference with contracts to obtain damages from a third party who infringed a selective distribution network, a matter which is far from uniformly regulated in the EC member states and remains unnoticed in highly regarded competition law courses. Up to now, most issues have been dealt with (almost) exclusively from either a competition law perspective, either a private law perspective. The proposed study aims to reconcile both perspectives by testing the private law initiatives on their compatibility with competition law and studying competition law initiatives from a private law perspective. This will provide new insights and increase coherence between the various initiatives for the creation of an efficient European legal system. The project fits into the programme of the Ius Commune Research School in which Maastricht University is a partner. The Ius Commune Research School offers facilities enabling post-doc researchers to continually develop their methodology, knowledge and presentational skills. In addition Maastricht University offers a number of high level courses to its staff."