Comments for the European Commission’s evaluation of the 1997 Market Definition Notice

Compass Lexecon experts have submitted observations to the European Commission on its 1997 Notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law. The observations relate to conceptual issues, evidentiary issues; the application of the Notice to specific types of cases; and the role of market definition in the enforcement process.

We welcome the Commission’s evaluation of the Notice. There have been many market developments since 1997, giving rise to issues that could not have been predicted at that time. While we suggest clarifications that could be made and request that guidance is given on a number of issues highlighted in this submission, we consider it important that an updated notice should be sufficiently flexible that it is widely applicable, and that it does not quickly become obsolete as markets evolve.

The submission includes an extract on market definition from the forthcoming 3rd edition of the book ‘The Law and Economics of Article 102 TFEU’ by Robert O’Donoghue and Jorge Padilla, published by Hart Publishing.

Read the submission

Contributors to this submission include: Enrique Andreu, Kirsten Edwards-Warren, Urs Haegler, Alyssa Lam, Miguel de la Mano, Jorge Padilla, Roy Rosenberg, Pekka Sääskilahti, David Sevy and Nadine Watson.