With this project, Schrepel will investigate how antitrust agencies can use computational tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI), while remaining consistent with the legal principles that underpin competition and administrative law.
“Digital markets are evolving at incredible speed,” Schrepel explains. “Agencies can only act effectively if they are able to observe and understand markets accurately. In digital environments, this is becoming impossible without computational techniques. At the same time, these tools must always operate within the rule of law and respect the procedural safeguards owed to companies and individuals.”
Understanding the digital landscape
Antitrust enforcement contributes to lower prices, innovation and fair competition, elements that are essential for healthy democracies. To achieve these effects, authorities must have a clear understanding of how markets function. Around the world, they increasingly recognise that in digital markets this is only possible with the help of advanced computational techniques.
The central question is therefore not whether these tools will be used, but how they can be used in ways that respect fundamental rights and procedural guarantees. ATLANTIS focuses precisely on this tension.
Innovative approach and international collaboration
ATLANTIS brings together legal analysis with insights from computational science and institutional economics. As part of the project, researchers trained in computational and economic methods will join the VU Amsterdam Faculty of Law, an uncommon combination in the field and a first for the faculty.
The project also builds on Schrepel’s longstanding collaboration with more than 75 antitrust agencies worldwide. These networks provide the research team with access to practices and challenges that are often not visible in public documents.
Experience and expertise
Schrepel’s work has long focused on the intersection of competition law and computational methods. He has examined how and where authorities deploy such tools, including advanced AI techniques. He also coordinated a major, long-running international research project on this topic. This experience forms a strong foundation for ATLANTIS, which emphasises collaboration and aims to produce insights that exceed what individual researchers can achieve alone.
Expected results and impact
ATLANTIS will develop a legal and institutional framework that shows how antitrust agencies can use computational techniques while remaining consistent with established safeguards. The project will also clarify how these techniques interact with core principles of EU competition law.
In addition to scientific publications, the project will generate numerous empirical studies, workshops and publicly accessible documentation. It will offer policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders valuable resources.
Expressing his gratitude for the ERC’s confidence, Schrepel says:
“It is a tremendous honour. I will do everything I can to live up to this trust. Now, let team work begin!”
About the Consolidator Grant
With the Consolidator Grant, the ERC supports outstanding researchers who are strengthening or further developing their own independent research team or programme.
Read the ERC’s press release here.