Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. Thomas G. Funke, LL.M. (Virginia), is a Partner with Osborne Clarke in Cologne (Germany) and can be contacted at thomas.funke@osborneclarke.com
This policy goal is illustrated in the title of the speech by Joaqun Almunia, Vice-Prsident of the European Commission in charge of Competition, Competition serving
the achievement of the Single Market (La concurrence au service de lachvement du march unique) (February 22, 2013): available at http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_
SPEECH-13-151_fr.htm.
The EUs Director-General for Competition, Alexander Italianer, has pointed out: Our aim is to allow the Internet to continue to contribute to cross-border trade in the internal
market while at the same time preserving existing distribution models whose efficiency enhancing nature has been recognised., http://ec.europa.eu/competition/speeches/text/
sp2010_01_en.pdf.
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c. The resellers must not sell to other resellers unless those are
authorized by Banana; and
d. Resellers receive discounts for purchases above particular
volume thresholds.
store attracts customers not just from Germany but also from
Commission Regulation No. 330/2010, 2010 O.J. (L102)1 on the application of Article 101 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of vertical
agreements and concerted practices.
The hypothetical is modelled after a case study designed by Mr Tom Booth and presented by the author and additional panellists at the 2013 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting.
Where the market share of either party to the distribution agreement is in excess of 30%, the arrangement will not benefit from the VRBER safe harbor, but may nonetheless qualify
for individual exemption where the parties can demonstrate overwhelming efficien-cies that could not be achieved through less restrictive means.
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3. Internet sales
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4. Other restrictions
of offline-to-online sales.
Case Comp/C-439/09, Pierre Fabre Dermo Cosmtique SAS V. Prsident de LAutorit de la Concurrence, (Oct. 13, 2011), available at http://curia.europa.eu and discussed in the
February 2013 edition of this newsletter.
Autorit de la concurrence, Dec. 12, 2012 Dcision no. 12-D-23, (Fr.) relative des pratiques mises en oeuvre par la socit Bang & Olufsen dans le secteur de la distribution slective
de matriels hi-fi et home cinma, available at http://www.autoritedelaconcurrence.fr/user/avisdec.php?numero=12D23.
Commission Regulation No. 330/2010, 2010 O.J. (L102)1, Art. 4 (b) (iii). However, under the sector-specific Commission Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation No. 461/2010
vehicle suppliers may not limit sales of spare parts from authorised repairers to independent repairers requiring the spare parts for installation in a specific customer vehicle.
September 2013
the safe harbor of the VRBER, but may still qualify for an
individual exemption.
dangerous substances.11
10
11
Commission Notice, Guidelines on Vertical Restraints, SEC(2010) 411 final, para. 60.
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