Review article
Establishing the Competent Market for Products within the Article 102 of the Contract on the Functioning of the European union with Emphasis on Consumer Selection
Ana Pošćić
; Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
With article 102 of the Contract on the functioning of the European Union it is forbidden to abuse the leading position of one or more entrepreneurs on the common market. The entrepreneur cannot take the leading position in the abstract meaning, but only in relation to the particular market. It is the first phase in the assessment of the legality of entrepreneurs’ business. The process is often called a deep market analysis. The competent market includes production, geographical and sometimes even time aspect.
The position of consumers is extremely important in the setting of the competent market for products that is set as the one that encompasses all the products and/or services that the consumer considers interchangeable or replaceable considering the characteristics of the product, their prices and use. In that sense taken into account are all the products that for a significant number of consumers represent substitutes and excluded are all the others that don’t represent a real substitute. It is established whether it is profitable for the entrepreneur to raise prices of the products. It all depends on whether there are in the eyes of the consumers products that will substitute the products which price increased. A procedure is used known under the name hypothetical monopolistic test or 5 – 10% test. The testing starts with a narrow defining of a group of products and it is attempted to answer the question whether it would be profitable for the entrepreneur to raise the price of these products, that is will the consumers continue to buy the product after a small, but permanent increase of the prices. Important are the reactions of consumers in a short period of time. The research does not question the habits and opinions of all consumers, but only of the so called border consumers, i.e. the group that reacts quickly and switches to substitute products.
Keywords
market competition; European law; article 102 of the Contract on the functioning of the European Union; competent market; consumer
Hrčak ID:
100077
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2012.
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