Web-Companion Essential EU Law in Text: Suggested solutions to the exercises
Please find hereinafter the suggested solutions to the 64 exercises contained in the book "Tobler/Beglinger, Essential EU Law in Text, 5th edition, HVG-ORAC 2020, ISBN 978-963-258-490-4". To give you an idea how the exercises in the book are phrased, they have been added for the first three instances. Any comments or feedback are welcome.Competition law – Exercise 4
Suggested solution:
A dominant position is not by itself considered something bad under EU law. According to the Court of Justice (Michelin), such a position simply implies a particular responsibility on the economic operator involved. Art. 102 TFEU only prohibits the abuse of such a position. The existence of a dominant position depends on the strength of the economic operator in question in the relevant market (United Brands). The relevant market must be determined in terms of the products and services (substitutability) and the geographical dimension (a sufficiently homogeneous area), sometimes it also has a temporal dimension. The main criterion for determining the economic operators’ strength in the relevant market is his/her/its market share. If the market share is less than 50%, other factors (e.g. relative market shares, financial strength, technical advantages) will be needed in order to support a finding of dominance.
[Relevant Charts: Chapter 9, in particular Chart 9/20-9/23, further Chart 9/4]
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