The European Commission recently published its long-awaited final report on its E-commerce Sector Inquiry launched two years ago. Therein, the Commission identifies that pricing limitations, dual pricing (i.e., charging different prices according to the channel through which a product is sold) and platform bans are among the most widespread vertical competition restraints in e-commerce implemented particularly often in distribution agreements between manufacturers and retailers in Germany. The report contains some helpful guidance on the competition assessment of the individual online sales restrictions. It comes as a warning, when the Commission indicates in the report that it intends to conduct a targeted enforcement in the e-commerce sector in the near future aimed at those business practices with the greatest potential to harm competition…read more.
