Algorithms and Fairness: What Role for Competition Law in Targeting Price Discrimination Towards End Consumers?

Using publicly available information, the article examines the economic concepts, which underlie the arguments of the decision of Polish competition authority UOKiK in relation to the participants of the Nord Stream 2. It explains the interrelation between economic and legal concepts, which are to be applied to interpret the competitive impact of joint venture and probable theory of harm for infrastructure investments under competition law of European Union, including in comparison with Russian competition law. It has been demonstrated that the resolution of a consortium case should be based on the proof of two statements. The first statement implies that the joint venture is a firm (and therefore the creation of a joint venture is a deal leading to economic concentration). The second statement means that despite Gazprom adopted the commitments about decision of the European Commission and trends in the development of the European gas market, the possibility of price discrimination is retained. Discussion and contestation of the decision against PJSC Gazprom testify in favor of maintaining the relevance of institutional studies and studies of industry markets for resolving legal disputes arising from the application of competition law.

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Has the conduct-based approach to competition law in South Africa led to consistent interpretations of harm to competition?

South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences ◽

10.4102/sajems.v11i3.461 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 292-304

Author(s):

Ryan Hawthorne

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Price Discrimination ◽

Competition Law ◽

Competitive Effect ◽

Competitive Effects ◽

Competitive Action ◽

Economic Foundations

The Competition Act and certain recent decisions by the competition authorities are examined here to assess the extent to which South Africa’s conduct-based approach to competition law has led to consistent outcomes in the assessment of effects on competition. This has not been the case in the assessment of anti-competitive effects among customers or resellers when a supplier accused of an anti-competitive action does not compete with its customers. An anti-competitive effect among customers or resellers is treated as anti-competitive when it arises from some form of conduct, such as price discrimination. However, it is not seen as anti-competitive when it arises from a refusal to supply, for example. Possible reasons for South Africa’s conduct-based approach and this inconsistent outcome in the assessment of competition among customers and resellers, including the economic foundations of the relevant approaches and their relationship with competition law in other jurisdictions, are assessed.

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Effect of price discrimination in discounts form on competition: normal trade practices or exclusionary power tool

Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Economics ◽

10.17721/1728-2667.2020/213-6/5 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 41-47

Author(s):

D. Cherednichenko

Keyword(s):

Price Discrimination ◽

Competition Law ◽

Economic Literature ◽

Trade Practice

To define a tiny line between price discrimination in form of discounts as a normal trade practice and an exclusionary power tool, this article provides a systematization and classification of pro- and anticompetitive effects of rebates. The analysis is based on a review of economic literature, the competition law, competition cases, and respective court judgments.

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Price Discrimination in the Postal Sector and Competition Law

Reinventing the Postal Sector in an Electronic Age ◽

10.4337/9781849805964.00021 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Damien Geradin

Keyword(s):

Price Discrimination ◽

Competition Law ◽

Postal Sector

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To discriminate or not to discriminate? Personalised pricing in online markets as exploitative abuse of dominance

European Journal of Law and Economics ◽

10.1007/s10657-019-09636-3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 381-404 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marco Botta ◽

Klaus Wiedemann

Keyword(s):

European Commission ◽

Price Discrimination ◽

A Priori ◽

Big Data Analytics ◽

Burden Of Proof ◽

Competition Law ◽

User Profiling ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Mixed Effect ◽

Online Platforms

AbstractThe advent of big data analytics has favoured the emergence of forms of price discrimination based on consumers’ profiles and their online behaviour (i.e. personalised pricing). The paper analyses this practice as a possible exploitative abuse by dominant online platforms. The paper argues that, in view of its “mixed” effect on consumers’ welfare, personalised pricing requires a case-by-case assessment under EU competition law and thus it should not be banned a priori. However, in view of the recent case law of the European Court of Justice on price discrimination, the National Competition Authorities (NCAs) and the European Commission would face a high burden of proof to sanction this conduct under Art. 102(c) TFEU. Finally, the paper argues that, due to its case-by-case approach, competition law seems more suitable than omnibus regulation to tackle the negative effects that personalised pricing could have on consumers’ welfare. In particular, an NCA/the European Commission could negotiate with online platforms different kinds of behavioural commitments: transparency requirements, limits on data collection/user profiling, rights to opt out of personalised pricing and the obligation to share customers’ data with competitors could significantly tame the risks of personalised pricing.

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