AKZO presumption of dominance: Time to abandon?

EU competition law has been and still is relying primarily on market share to analyse dominant position. First, it is unlikely that a dominant position would be found below 40 % market share. On the other hand, in its AKZO judgment the European Court of Justice established a presumption of dominance of over 50 % market share.

History shows that the (soft) presumption of an absence of dominance below 40 % may be relied on. On the contrary, the positive (AKZO) presumption is highly questionable, as is not explicitly enshrined in primary and secondary EU law but was established by the case law of the Court of Justice.

Read the full article "AKZO presumption of dominance: Time to abandon?" by Jan Kupcik here.

Competition Forum, 2021, n°0025