COMPETITION • EUROPEAN LAW • ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION
Under the the Commission’s Guidance on abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings, No 2009/C 45/02, there is “anticompetitive foreclosure” where “effective access of actual or potential competitors to supplies or markets is hampered or eliminated as a result of the conduct of the dominant undertaking whereby the dominant undertaking is likely to be in a position to profitably increase prices to the detriment of consumers“.
While the pursuit of an exclusionary strategy is one of the constituent elements of predatory pricing, it can also constitute, in its various forms, an abusive practice in its own right. This is the case for price alignment practices, legal action aimed at harassing or eliminating a competitor, product swaps, monopolization of advertising media, takeover bids, payments to postpone the launch of a competing product, cross-subsidies, co-optation procedures within a collective dominant position or the exercising of pressure on public authorities.
