The Commission’s e-commerce sector inquiry – Time to change presumptions on vertical restraints?

Competition authorities in Europe continue to take a presumptively interventionist approach to the law with regard to vertical restraints, particularly in the e-commerce sector, despite economics suggesting a more balanced approach would be appropriate. In May 2017, the European Commission published the final report of its e-commerce sector inquiry. In this article, published in Competition Law and Policy Debate, Lars Wiethaus and Simon Chisholm review the findings relating to e-commerce in goods and, from an economic perspective, assess whether the reasons for firms to employ vertical restraints, as reported in the inquiry, are in line with possible pro-competitive or anti-competitive motivations. For the full article, click the link below.
This article is made available with the permission of Claeys & Casteels Law Publishing. More information on the CLPD may be found here.