Download Competition Law in Transition - Competition Law - Lecture Slides and more Slides Competition Law and Policy in PDF only on Docsity! Competition Law in Transition: Trends and Challenges Docsity.com Law and Economics of Pricing Which is the right price? l 2 Docsity.com Classics include inter alia .. – Excessive pricing • “ Charging a price which is excessive because it has no reasonable relation to the economic value of the product supplied may be an abuse of a dominate position” (e.g. 26/76- United Brands) – Predatory pricing • Article 86 prohibits a dominant undertaking from eliminating a competitor and thereby strengthening its position by using methods other than those which come within the scope of competition on the basis of quality. From that point of view, however, not all competition by means of price can be regarded as legitimate“ (C-62/86 Akzo) – Margin squeeze • margin squeeze is capable, in itself, of constituting an abuse within the meaning of Article 82 EC in view of the exclusionary effect that it can create for competitors who are at least as efficient as the appellant (C-280/08 Deutsche Telekom) – Abusive rebates • “..a system of discounts or bonuses which constitute neither quantity discounts or bonuses nor fidelity discounts or bonuses within the meaning of the judgment in Hoffmann-La Roche constitutes an abuse, it first has to be determined whether those discounts or bonuses can produce an exclusionary effect, that is to say whether they are capable, first, of making market entry very difficult or impossible for competitors of the undertaking in a dominant position and, secondly, of making it more difficult or impossible for its co-contractors to choose between various sources of supply or commercial partners..” (C-95/04 PBritish Airways) l 5 Docsity.com What does the court say? l 6 Docsity.com Law and Economics of Pricing – “… not all competition by means of price can be regarded as legitimate“ (e.g. Case C-62/86 – Akzo) – “It is therefore not possible to assert that the right of a dominant undertaking to align its prices on those of its competitors is absolute and that it has been recognised as such by the Commission in its previous decisions and in the relevant case-law [...].” (T-340/03 France Télécom. Para 182, confirmed in 202/07 France Telecom, para 56) – „If the appellant had a margin of discretion, then it should have requested the [national regulatory authority] to increase its retail prices in order to put an end to the abusive conduct.” (opinion of the advocate general Mazák, Case C-280/08 P – Deutsche Telekom) l 7 Docsity.com
