Portrait of Dr Gunnar Niels

Dr Gunnar Niels Managing Partner

Gunnar leads Oxera’s work in competition policy and litigation, with more than 30 years’ experience in the field covering mergers, agreements, abuse of dominance, damages and state aid. He has advised companies such as Booking.com, Deutsche Bahn, Liberty Global and Mastercard, as well as government bodies and the European Commission. Gunnar has provided expert testimony before courts in a range of jurisdictions, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and the UK, and has presented at oral hearings in European Commission inquiries.

Author of Economics for Competition Lawyers (Oxford University Press, third edition, 2023), Gunnar has published articles in many leading journals. Before joining Oxera in 1999, Gunnar was deputy head of the Economics Directorate at Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission for four years, and prior to that a research assistant at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is listed in The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers & Economists.

Gunnar speaks English, Dutch, German, and Spanish.

Tel: +44 (0) 1865 253019

Gunnar's specialisms include:

Selected
professional experience

  • Advice to a global bank in the European Commission investigation into information exchange in European government bond trading (2018–)

  • Advice to comparethemarket.com in an Article 101 investigation by the UK Competition and Markets Authority into most-favoured-nation (MFN) clauses (2017–)

  • Expert in a patent dispute before the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, China (2018–20)

  • Expert advice to ASML in a patent dispute with Nikon in the Netherlands, Germany and other jurisdictions (2016–18)

  • Court-appointed expert in an abuse of dominance case before the Court of Amsterdam involving property search websites (2015–17)

  • Advice to Liberty Global on the European Commission Phase 2 inquiries into its acquisitions of Ziggo and De Vijver Media (2014–15)

Selected
expert experience

  • Expert testimony for trucks manufacturers in relation to cartel damages claim in court of Amsterdam (2020–)

  • Expert report for defendant in commercial dispute in bicycle manufacturing in Netherlands court (2024)

  • Expert testimony for Mastercard in interchange fee litigation against retailers in the UK (2015–24)

  • Advice to a defendant in the ethylene cartel damages claim in the Netherlands (2023–)

  • Expert testimony for the claimants in an air cargo cartel damages claim in the Amsterdam court (2017–)

  • Expert testimony in commercial arbitration involving non-compete clauses in Spain (2011–22)

Selected
publications

  • Niels, G., Jenkins, H. and Kavanagh, J. (2023), Economics for Competition Lawyers, third edition, Oxford University Press.

  • Ralston-Smith, H. and Niels, G. (2026), ‘A practical guide to market definition for multi-sided platforms: How can we build on the principles in the 2024 Market Definition Notice’, Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, Vol. 14:1, pp. 154–170.

  • Ten Kate, A. and Niels, G. (2024), ‘Critical mass and mature equilibria for two-sided platforms, and the strength of the externalities between the sides’, Review of Network Economics, Vol. 23:2, pp. 65–86.

  • Damstra, L., Salvyuolo, L. and Niels, G. (2021), ‘Gender differences in surveys for market definition and merger analysis’, Competition Law Journal, 20:4, pp. 178–186.

  • Niels, G. (2019), ‘Transaction versus non-transaction platforms: A false dichotomy in two-sided market definition’, Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 15:2–3, pp. 327–357.

  • Déchamps, P. and Niels, G. (2018), ‘The one billion euro question for Intel: Moore’s Law or Murphy’s Law?’, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, 9:2, pp. 124–130.

Qualifications

  • PhD Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

  • MSc Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Latest Insights:  Dr Gunnar Niels

Agenda
6 minute read
Depiction of The expert hot tub: choose your model

The expert hot tub: choose your model

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Agenda
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Depiction of Taking notice and looking ahead: a new draft market definition notice for the EU

Taking notice and looking ahead: a new draft market definition notice for the EU

On 22 November 2022, the European Commission launched a public consultation on its draft revised market definition notice. Oxera’s response to the consultation praised the Commission for the improvements on…
Agenda
10 minute read
Depiction of Package deal: why the Airtours criteria are also relevant for understanding cartels

Package deal: why the Airtours criteria are also relevant for understanding cartels

The Airtours criteria set by the EU courts in 2002 play an important role in assessing the risk of (tacit) coordinated effects in merger review. However, since the three criteria—transparency,…
Agenda
11 minute read
Depiction of Gender on the agenda: improving inclusivity in competition analysis

Gender on the agenda: improving inclusivity in competition analysis

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has launched an initiative to explore whether applying a gender ‘lens’ can help deliver more effective competition policy. As surveys are often…

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