Predatory Pricing Report
EU Generally[1]
Article 82 (formerly Article 86) of the EC Treaty prohibits predatory pricing. The Commission began prosecuting predatory pricing in 1985, in the AKZO case.[2] This case led to the establishment of a two-pronged test for predatory pricing. A firm was guilty of the offense if it either:
- Sets the price at below average variable cost. This amounts to a per se assumption of abusive behavior.
- Sets the price at below average total cost, but above average variable cost. This is also assumed to be predatory, but requires a specific plan by the firm to eliminate competitors.
Austria
§31(1)(5) of the Federal Act of 19 October 1988 on Cartels and other Restrictive Trade Practices prohibits the sale of goods below cost price when it cannot be justified on material grounds.
Czech Republic
§11(1)(e)prohibits "consistent offer and sale of goods for unfairly low prices, which results or may result in distortion of competition."
Estonia
No prohibition on predatory pricing found.
Hungary
21(h) of Act LVII of 1996 on the Prohibition of Unfair and Restrictive Market Practices as amended, effective November 1, 2005 makes it prohibited to "set extremely low prices which are not based on greater efficiency in comparison with that of competitors and which are likely to drive out competitors from the relevant market or to hinder their market entry[.]"
Ireland
No prohibition on predatory pricing found.
Italy
Italy has no prohibition on predatory pricing, but "it is foreseeable that the same principles set forth in EC law to prohibit predatory price cutting by a dominant undertaking may be applied."[3]
Latvia
Latvia has no explicit prohibition on predatory pricing. However, "[p]redatory pricing by definition as a practice aimed at hindrance, restriction or distortion of competition would qualify as an abuse of dominant position.[4]
Netherlands
No prohibition on predatory pricing found. Moreover, Dutch law does not forbid resale at a loss.[5]
Notes
- ↑ Information for this section has been gleaned from The EC law of Competition (eds. Jonathan Faull and Ali Nikpay)
- ↑ AKZO [1985] OJ L374/1.
- ↑ Competition Law in the EU, Vol. 1, 384.
- ↑ Dace Silava-Tomsone, Getting the Deal Through – Dominance 2006, http://www.lt-v.lv/pdf/Latvia_dace.pdf, 4.
- ↑ Competition Law in the EU, Vol. 1, 445.