Policy Insights
Policy Insight 125: Economic principles for the enforcement of abuse of dominance provisions
The European Commission (EC) recently announced its plan to release new guidelines on exclusionary abuses. This Policy Insight argues that economics can and should be used to inform a sound and effects-based approach in the enforcement of the abuse of dominance provisions of Article 102 TFEU.
The authors emphasise that the EC should be guided by a consumer welfare standard, encompassing many more factors than merely pricing. The Policy Insight discusses applying a (rebuttable) presumption of harm to exclusive dealing and exclusivity rebates, the utilisation of price-cost tests for practices like predation, excluding the requirement of input essentiality in vertical foreclosure cases, and the restriction of such cases to dominant firms which meet specific criteria.
