AAI International Advisor for the Netherlands. Dr. Ben Van Rompuy is a Visiting Professor of competition policy and media regulation at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and associate senior researcher at iMinds-SMIT (Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication) and the Institute for European Studies of the VUB.
His main research interests lie in the fields of European and comparative competition law and EU internal market law. His current work focuses on the treatment of justifications within and across different fields of European economic law (antitrust, mergers, State aid, free movement) and on public interest interventions of EU Member States within the context of merger control.
Ben has particular expertise in the application of European law and competition law in the media and sports sectors and in the regulation of gambling services within the internal market. He has published widely in these areas and regularly acts as an advisor and expert witness for media companies, sports associations, athletes, and public authorities.
Before joining the Europa Institute in August 2016, Ben was a senior researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague (2012-2016), where he headed the ASSER International Sports Law Centre. As a recipient of a Francqui Foundation Fellowship of the B.A.E.F., he started his postdoctoral career at the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for International Economic Law (2011). During this time, he also served as a consultant in international antitrust for the US Federal Trade Commission. He previously was a visiting scholar at New York University (2009).
Ben holds a doctoral degree in law (2011) and masters’ degrees in international and European Law (magna cum laude) and in communication sciences (summa cum laude) from the VUB. His Ph.D. thesis, published as “Economic Efficiency: The Sole Concern of Modern Antitrust Policy? Non-efficiency Considerations under Article 101 TFEU” (Kluwer Law International 2012), examined the role of public interest considerations (beyond competition policy) in EU antitrust law enforcement.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute and editor-in-chief of the Asser International Sports Law book series (Springer).
