On February 8, 2024, the European Commission adopted a revised Market Definition Notice (“the Notice”).
The primary objective of the Notice is to align the European Commission’s guidance with emerging market dynamic, as well as with advancements in the European Commission’s case precedents and European Union jurisprudence. This Notice will bolster transparency and legal clarity for businesses, streamline compliance efforts, and foster more effective competition enforcement.
Key elements of the Notice:
- More accessible guidance
- General principles
- Innovation, quality, reliable supply, and sustainability
- Specific circumstances
- Dynamic and forward-looking assessments
- Geographic market definition
- Quantitative techniques
- Calculation of market shares
- Sources of evidence
Market definition helps understand the competitive environment in which firms operate, both at a given point in time and more dynamically. Since markets are not static, this analysis needs to be repeated for each case, to take account of changes in production processes, consumer preferences, and other market characteristics, such as innovation cycles, supply chains, the specificities of digital markets and related business models, and ease of access to new suppliers, or in response to regulatory changes. Similarly, the geographical scope of a market is also subject to a fresh assessment in every case, which can lead to markets being defined from local to global, depending on how they work in practice, in particular from the perspective of consumers and customers.
The Notice provides guidance on the principles and best practices of how the European Commission applies the concepts of relevant product and geographic market in its enforcement of European Union competition law. Although not directly applicable in the Republic of Serbia, the Serbian Commission will certainly consider arguments based on the Notice when taking decisions in future cases.
For more details, please Download Newsletter.
Please contact Uroš Popović for more information at uros.popovic@bd2p.com.
