"Commission notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law" [2004] ELECD 74; in Buigues, A. Pierre; Rey, Patrick (eds), "The Economics of Antitrust and Regulation in Telecommunications" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: The Economics of Antitrust and Regulation in Telecommunications

Editor(s): Buigues, A. Pierre; Rey, Patrick

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843765103

Section Title: Commission notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

Commission notice on the definition of relevant
market for the purposes of Community competition
law*

I. INTRODUCTION
1. The purpose of this notice is to provide guidance as to how the Commission applies
the concept of relevant product and geographic market in its ongoing enforcement of
Community competition law, in particular the application of Council Regulation No.
17 and (EEC) No. 4064/89, their equivalents in other sectoral applications such as
transport, coal and steel, and agriculture, and the relevant provisions of the EEA
Agreement.1 Throughout this notice, references to Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty and
to merger control are to be understood as referring to the equivalent provisions in the
EEA Agreement and the ECSC Treaty.
2. Market definition is a tool to identify and define the boundaries of competition be-
tween firms. It serves to establish the framework within which competition policy is
applied by the Commission. The main purpose of market definition is to identify in a
systematic way the competitive constraints that the undertakings involved2 face. The
objective of defining a market in both its product and geographic dimension is to
identify those actual competitors of the undertakings involved that are capable of
constraining those undertakings' behaviour and of preventing them from behaving
independently of effective competitive pressure. It is from this perspective that the
market definition makes it possible inter alia to calculate market shares that would
convey meaningful information regarding market power for the purposes of assessing
dominance or for the ...