The European Commission launched on Tuesday 8 November a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on a draft revised Market Definition Notice.
The definition of the market is used to define the boundaries within which competition between companies takes place.
The Market Definition Notice dates from 1997 and needs to be modified in light of important developments of recent years (digitalisation, new ways of offering goods and services).
The main objective of the draft revised Notice is to provide more guidance, transparency and legal certainty to businesses in order to facilitate compliance (see EUROPE 12760/7).
The proposed amendments contain:
- explanations of the principles of market definition and how it is used for the purpose of applying the competition rules;
- a stronger focus on non-price elements (innovation and quality of products and services);
- clarification of the forward-looking application of the market definition, in particular in markets that are expected to undergo structural transitions (technological or regulatory changes);
- new market definition guidelines for digital markets (multi-sided markets and ‘digital ecosystems’);
- new principles on innovation-intensive markets;
- more guidance on geographic market definition (conditions for defining global markets, approach to assessing imports and approach to local markets defined by catchment areas);
- clarification of quantitative techniques, such as the SSNIP test (‘small but significant and non-transitory increase in price’), which the Commission may use when defining a market;
- expanded guidance on possible sources of evidence and their probative value based on practical experience and the Commission’s factual approach to market definition.
The Commission will adopt a new Market Definition Notice in the third quarter of 2023.
Link to documents: https://aeur.eu/f/3xt (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)