Inappropriately favour domestic suppliers before it can offer its

Services.

D A new Internet provider enters the market, and the main provider in

The region temporarily lowers the cost of its services dramatically.

Price-fixing

Predatory pricing

Tie-in arrangement

"9 2:

.1-

One of the main areasof the competition policy of the European Union is antitrust and

Cartels. Its aim is to eliminate agreements restricting competition, as well as abuses by

Firms who hold a dominant position on the market.

Table 1on page 206 is an excerpt from an antitrust newsletter published by a large law

Firm providing regular updates on antitrust measures taken in EUmember states.

Look at Table 1 quickly and answer these questions.

1 Who do you think would be interested in reading such information?

2 Why do you think the table is set up the way it is?

A lawyer writing a report comparing anti-competitive activities in the

Telecommunications sector with other sectors in the EU is looking for

information. Will this table be of use to him?

Unit 15 Competition law

E

Table 1: Member States and Measures Taken

Member State Measure

Germany

Italy

In December 2004, the German Cartel Office initiated

Proceedings against five gas utility companies suspected of

Abusive pricing practices.

On 16 November 2004, the Italian Competition Council fined

Telecom Italia €152 million for an abuse of its dominant position

On the market for fixed network telecommunications services for

Business customers.

Poland Poland's Office for Protection of Competition and Consumers

Fined PKP Cargo, the largest Polish railway carrier, PLN 20 million

For abusing its dominant position by applying dissimilar

Conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties.

Portugal

Czech Republic

On 11 January 2005, the Portuguese Competition Authority fined

Abbott, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Menarini, and Roche

€658,413.22 per company for colluding on bidding prices.

On 21 December 2004, the Supreme Administrative Court of the

Czech Republic upheld a decision by the Competition Office

Finding that the GSM operator Eurotel Praha (Eurotel) had abused

Its dominant position in the mobile telecommunication services

Market by charging discriminatory prices for connection to the

Network of Cesky Mobil.

Latvia

The Netherlands

The Latvian Competition Council has fined members of a pricefixing

And information-exchange cartel in the market for

chickens' eggs.

The Netherlands Competition Authority has confirmed that 11

Parties in the shrimp-fishing industry participated in an illegal

Cartel.

Sweden The Competition Authority filed a fine petition at Stockholm City

Court on 15 December 2004 accusing Nynas of having abused

Its dominant position on the bitumen market by applying

Business conditions that discriminated against other companies

In order to limit their access to the market. The Competition

Authority demanded that several oil companies be fined a total

Sum of SEK 394 million.

Slovak Republic In December 2004, the Anti-monopoly Office of the Slovak

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 832