In a speech, commissioner Margrethe Vestager suggests the notice on market definition will be reviewed to take into account globalisation and digitisation.
Background: In her previous tenure as Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager put tech giants under intense scrutiny. She oversaw several investigations of the likes of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, which resulted in fines or orders to pay taxes for tens of billions of Euros, and in remedies designed to improve competition in the markets concerned. Her new role as Vice President for ‘Europe fit for the Digital Age’ promises more of the same.
Defining markets in a new age: This week, at the Chillin’ Competition Conference in Brussels, Vestager delivered a speech in which she set out some key aspects of the new approach to competition policy she intends to adopt. The increasingly global nature of business, combined with digitisation, are creating new opportunities but also new challenges. One thing Vestager aims to do is review how markets are defined. Geographically, it is likely that the EC will increasingly take into account the impact of competition coming from outside the EU, although this will be based on the nature and circumstance of each market.
The changing nature of product markets will be considered: Vestager points out that digitisation is creating new challenges in defining product markets, especially in working out which products can be a substitute for one another. In particular, instruments like the ‘SSNIP test’ could be outdated in markets where end users consume a product for free. Ecosystems are also often designed to provide a range of services linked between one another, which can lead to consumers being locked in. The review of the market definition notice will have to consider this aspect.
