European Competition Law provides a wide-ranging review of the European rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, abuse of a dominant position, impact of intellectual property rights, procedure, merger control, State aid.

European Competition Law

Collective dominance traditionally implies the finding of links between undertakings enabling them to adopt a same conduct on the market .
At first, the concept of links between undertakings was rather strictly construed and only covered links drawn from the corporate structure of the undertaking, like the existence of joint managers  or cross shareholding . The concept of link has gradually slack …

Links between undertakings

Collective dominance traditionally implies the finding of links between undertakings enabling them to adopt a same conduct on the market .

At first, the concept of links between undertakings was rather strictly construed and only covered links drawn from the corporate structure of the undertaking, like the existence of joint managers  or cross shareholding . The concept of link has gradually slackened to be reduced to mere “connecting factors” : commercial links, such as exclusive supply commitments  or systematic exchanges of products between the undertakings in question , or even purely “economic” links , such as patent licensing agreements , or even the creating of a grouping  may now constitute such links.

In this very broad conception of link, the behavioral condition naturally becomes decisive: any link between undertakings suffices to establish a collective dominant position where it allows the adoption of a joint commercial strategy . The object of the control is therefore gradually moving away from the relations existing between the undertakings in question, to the market on which these undertakings appear as a “single entity”.

Case C-393/92 Gemeente Almelo and others v Energiebedrijf IJsselmij [1994] ECR I-1477, LawLex200400002880JBJ; Cases T-24/93 through T-26/93 and T-28/93 Lopes v Court of Justice [1996] ECR FP-I-A-487, II-1357, LawLex200400002896JBJ; Cases C-215/96 and C-216/96 Bagnasco and others [1999] ECR I-135, LawLex200400002954JBJ.

Case T-228/97 Irish Sugar v Commission [1999] ECR II-2969, LawLex200400002962JBJ; Case C-497/99 P Irish Sugar v Commission [2001] ECR I-5333, LawLex200400003026JBJ.

Case T-228/97 Irish Sugar v Commission [1999] ECR II-2969, LawLex200400002962JBJ.

Commission Decision No 97/624/EC of 14 May 1997, Irish Sugar plc, LawLex200400002528JBJ; Case T-228/97 Irish Sugar v Commission [1999] ECR II-2969, LawLex200400002962JBJ.

Commission Decision No 89/93/EC of 7 December 1988, Flat glass, LawLex200400002933JBJ.

Cases T-68/89 and others SIV and others v Commission [1992] ECR II-1403, LawLex200400002906JBJ; Commission Decision No 93/82/EEC of 23 December 1992, Cewal, Cowac and Ukwal, LawLex200400003334JBJ. 

See however, Case C-96/94 Centro Servizi Spediporto v Spedizioni Marittima del Golfo [1995] ECR I-2883, LawLex200400002892JBJ: national legislation which provides for the fixing of road-haulage tariffs by the public authorities cannot be regarded as placing economic agents in a collective dominant position; also, Case T-228/97 Irish Sugar v Commission [1999] ECR II-2969, LawLex200400002962JBJ; Case C-497/99 P Irish Sugar v Commission [2001] ECR I-5333, LawLex200400003026JBJ; For a liner conference, Cases T-191/98, T-212/98 and T-214/98 Atlantic Container Line and others v Commission [2003] ECR II-3275, LawLex200500004554JBJ.

Case T-193/02 Piau, Judgment of 26 January 2005, LawLex200500006260JBJ.

Case C-393/92 Gemeente Almelo and others v Energiebedrijf IJsselmij [1994] ECR I-1477, LawLex200400002880JBJ; Case C-497/99 P Irish Sugar v Commission [2001] ECR I-5333, LawLex200400003026JBJ, at pt 46.

European Competition Law

151. Links between undertakings

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151. Links between undertakings

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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