The term of 'relevant market', as element of dominant position provided by art. 102 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union
Author | Cornelia Beatrice Gabriela Ene-Dinu |
Position | Lecturer, PhD, Faculty of Law, University 'Nicolae Titulescu', Bucharest |
Pages | 77-83 |
LESIJ NO. XXVI, VOL. 1/2019
THE TERM OF “RELEVANT MARKET”, AS ELEMENT OF DOMINANT
POSITION PROVIDED BY ART. 102 OF THE TREATY ON THE FUNCTIONING
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Cornelia Beatrice Gabriela ENE-DINU*
Abstract
The term of relevant market was used for the first time in the Sherman Act of 1890, condemning
monopolies or monopoly attempts. The term of r elevant mar ket is a nalyzed as b eing the place where
demand and supply of products or services, interchangeable with each other, are confronting; however,
the termă ofă"relevantă market”ăisă muchămoreă complexăthanăthat,ă beingă characterizedăbyăfundamentală
dimensions in connection with the term of product (service) mar ket an d geographic market, both in
close connection.
Keywords: relevant market, monopolies, product market, geographic market, dominant position.
1. Terminology issues
The term of relevant market was used
for the first time in the Sherman Act of 1890,
condemning monopolies or monopoly
attempts which can lead to higher prices and
lower production than under normal
competition conditions.
Currently, the term of relevant market
is defined by art. 102 TFEU (former art. 82
EC), as a primary source of the European
Union law1, which provides that any abuse
by one or more undertakings of a dominant
position within the internal market or in a
substantial part of it shall be prohibited as
incompatible with the internal market in so
far as it may affect trade between Member
States.
In what concerns the term of
undertakings, we should note that, although
the term is used by art. 101 para. 1 TFEU, a
definition of t he term cannot be found. The
* LОМturОr,ăPСD,ăFaМultвăoПăLaа,ăUnТvОrsТtвă“NТМolaОăTТtulОsМu”,ăBuМСarОstă(О-mail: liadinu78@yahoo.fr).
1 N. Popa coordonator, E. Anghel, C. Ene-DТnu,ăL.ă Sptaru-NОРur,ăTeoriaă Generalăaă Dreptului.ăCaietă deă
Seminar, 3rd edition, C.H. Beck Publishing House, Bucharest, 2017, p. 153.
2 Case C-41/90, HofnerăşiăElser/MacrotonăGmbH (1991) ECR I-1979.
EU courts and authorities in the field o f
competition adopted a broad concept of the
term. In case Hofner, the European Court of
Justice noted that the term of enterprise
covers any entity engaged in an economic
activity, regardless of its legal status and the
way it is financed.2
In essence, art. 102 TFEU concerns the
control of market power by either one
company or a number of companies under
certain conditions. Within this regulation,
not the market power itself is prohibited.
What is condemnable in the TFEU view is
the abuse of po wer in the market, therefore,
the intention of the European lawmaker is to
encourage competition and, in this way, the
most efficient participants break apart from
otСОrsăТnătСОămarkОtăasăaărОsultăoПăМonsumОrs’ă
choices in relation to the goods or services
proposed.
This article aims to analyze the term of
relevant market, as well as the term of
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