Regulation of Excessive Pricing in EU Markets: A Critical Analysis

The European Union Commission has been instrumental in regulating the price policies to protect the interests of consumers. The commission's role in consumer protection is highlighted, with a focus on safeguarding consumer welfare. The EU Consumer Laws comprise key legislative initiatives aimed at curbing unfair consumer and commercial practices. The commission's objective is to ensure transparency, quality, and healthy products for customers while promoting market growth.

Running head: EU COMPETITION LAW
Competition Law
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1EU COMPETITION LAW
Introduction:
The subject matter of the case is based on the facts regarding the provisions of the
Treaty of Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and certain initiatives have been taken
to identify the relevant provision of the facts. It is to be pointed out that what are the reasons
behind the change of focus of the EU commission from protection of competition to the
safeguarding consumer welfare. It is to be understood the meaning of the competition and the
relation of the same with the consumer welfare. In general, it has been observed that the
competition is a process through which the companies use to offer certain goods and services
to the consumers. Competition helps to reduce the cost of the goods and facilitate the services
regarding the same. There are certain treaties implemented to regulate the competition within
the provinces of the European Union and among all the treaties, Treaty of Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) is one of the most important in this case. The subject of the case is
evolved with two provisions of the treaty that are Article 101 and Article 102. Objectives
regarding both the Articles are to restrict all the steps that are taken to close the chance of
competition in the consumer related matters 1. The European Union commission has the right
to deal with the provisions of the treaty. There are certain reasons that taking place in recent
times regarding the transferring of focus from the protection of competition to the safeguards
consumer welfare. It has been decided by the commission that the most important thing is to
protect the interest of the consumers.
The Treaty of Functioning of European Union was for the first time generated in the
year 1957 in Rome and the then name of the treaty was European Economic Community2.
1 Wallace, Helen, Mark A. Pollack, and Alasdair R. Young, eds. Policy-making in the
European Union. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.
2 Nugent, Neill. The government and politics of the European Union. Springer, 2017.

2EU COMPETITION LAW
Later on 2007, the treaty was known as Treaty of Functioning of European Union. The treaty
is divided into seven parts. The base and the value of the treaty are discussed in the first part.
It consists of 17 Articles. The second part of the treaty delivers its views regarding the non-
discrimination and certain steps have been taken for the interest of the nation as well as the
European Union. Policies and the internal actions of the European Union are being discussed
in the third part of the treaty. The consumer related matter has been discussed in the third part
of the Treaty3.
Article 101 of TFEU
Article 101 is a prohibitory section that restricts the market operators who wanted to
stop the competitive mentality 4. It has been stated by the European Union that competitive
mentality is important to retain the growth in market and it is held that the market operators
are contracting agreements by two ways. When the agreements are being made in between
the actual and potential competitors, that is known as the horizontal agreement and when in
the agreement process, different types of firms are engaged, it becomes known as vertical
agreement. The provision of Article 101 creates effect in the internal market area. Certain
provisions are being mentioned under this Article to restrict all the attempts made for the
prohibition of competition.
3 Bourgeois, Jacques. "Competition policy: the poor relation in the European Union free trade
agreements." The European Union in the world: essays in honor of Marc Maresceau.
Martinus Nijhoff, 2014. 381-397.
4 Nugent, Neill. The government and politics of the European Union. Springer, 2017.

3EU COMPETITION LAW
It has been mentioned under the Article that the undertakings and the decisions that
are directly or indirectly inflicting the theories of competition has to be prohibited 5. This is
the provision regarding the internal marketing policy of European Union. The member states
are restricted to take any kind of steps that will be an obstacle regarding the competition in
the market. There should not be any dissimilarity regarding the transactions with the other
trading parties and it should be bored in mind that certain supplementary obligations are to be
imposed on the cartels. It has also been stated under the Article that if there is any decisions
choose against the objective of the treaty shall be made void automatically.
The objective of the Article is to provide relief to them who are affecting by the anti-
competitive behavior. The European Union has taken such steps to avoid the complexion in
the market policies. It is stated by the European Union that it is important to maintain a
clarity regarding the internal marketing policies and retain economic efficiency in the
markets.
Article 102 of TFEU
The main aim of the Article is to prevent those who have a dominant mentality and
want to abuse the process of market. It has been alleged that the private sectors are trying to
reduce the competitive mentality and avoid the monopolistic character of the market. This
dominant mentality has been found in the sectors of the firm base. It has been stated by the
Article that from the report of the market analyst that the dominancy regarding the marketing
policies are high in number. Certain processes are taking for the reduction of the topics for
the betterment of the society. The word market is playing an important role in the field of the
5 McCormick, John. Understanding the European Union: a concise introduction. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2014.

4EU COMPETITION LAW
European Union6. The markets are divided into two parts such as product market and
geographical market.
In the present case, it has been stated that the consumers are the most important part
of the competition market. It has been mentioned under the Article 102 that there is a need to
establish the competition in the private sector. If there is no competitive mentality in the
private firm, then the price of the goods will become unfair immature, the production process
of the goods will become limited in nature. Therefore, the applicability of these two Articles
becomes necessary to maintain systematic approach in the marketing section.
Court of justice
Court of Justice governs the law related problems for the continents of the European
Unions. It is the highest court for the provinces of the European Union. The main objective of
the court is to implement and interpret the law and apply the same for achieving the ultimate
purpose 7. In the year 1952, Court of Justice was established in Luxembourg. All the EU-
based disputes are to be resolved by the Court of Justice. The court is to be composed with
the Judge, President, Vice-president, Advocates general, the Registrar, and Chambers. All the
competition related matters are dealing by the parliamentary committees and it is to be stated
that the committees are divided into two parts. The economic and the monetary policies are
deals by the European parliament ECON committee and IMCO committee is dealing with the
internal market and consumer protection. The Court of Justice ensures the interpretation and
application of the competition law and prescribes certain steps to regulate the relevant laws
6 Smith, Karen E. European Union foreign policy in a changing world. John Wiley & Sons,
2013.
7 Whish, Richard, and David Bailey. Competition law. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015

5EU COMPETITION LAW
across the EU. the steps of the Court of Justice has created significant effect on the European
and deliver all the steps regarding the effectiveness of the competition law.
Protection of competition
Meaning
Competition provokes many companies that are engaged with the process of
providing goods and services to the consumers and helps to continue the rapid growth
regarding the marketing policies. The concept of competition is one of the much debated
topics regarding the controlling market policies and implementation of the same8. Therefore,
there is a necessity to protect the provisions of the competition to secure the interest of the
society and the consumer as well and the priority of the market is also to be enlightened
through this. Article 101 to 109 of the TFEU has discussed about the provisions regarding the
rules regarding competition and its effects on the markets. There are certain provisions
regarding the prohibition of the anti- competitive agreements. The concept of the competition
policies is to be unprotected due to many reasons such as the dominancy of the private firms
and the restrictive provisions taken by the internal market cartels. The European Union has
taken an attempt, by implementing several treaties to protect the competition policies.
Objective
The main objectives of the competition policies are to restrict the cartels, which are
tried to prohibit the competition policies. It is to be stated that if there is no protective policies
8 Jones, Alison, and Brenda Sufrin. EU competition law: text, cases, and materials. oxford
university Press, 2016.

6EU COMPETITION LAW
taken for the security of the competition policies, the price of the goods will be at hike. A
linear mentality has been observed in the private sectors and a dominant mentality has been
grown up within the society. The benefits of the competition are wide in nature and therefore,
there is a necessity to implement the policies in the every stages of the society. An effort has
been made to implement the policies regarding the transport, energy and telecommunication
department and the objective of the same is to control the unfair advantage. The aim of the
competition policies is to promote the general economic welfare to secure the interest of the
consumers.
Development
Among the most success stories of the European Union, competition policy are most
significant in nature9. All the member states of the European Union have a lean over the
delegation of the competition policies. The development regarding the competition policies
has been started after certain treaties had been passed to secure the market policies. Certain
law has been passed to protect the interest of the internal market policies and it has been
stated by the Court of Justice that the principles of the competition policies are important to
follow up. Certain reformatory steps had been taken in the area of merger control and
antitrust. The impact of the competition rules are developed with two dimensions10. The first
part consists of certain set of rules for the betterment of the competition policies. The second
9 Crouch, Colin. "Introduction: labour markets and social policy after the crisis." Transfer:
European review of labour and research 20.1 (2014): 7-22.
10 Smith, Karen E. European Union foreign policy in a changing world. John Wiley & Sons,
2013.

7EU COMPETITION LAW
dimension has certain external effect and the outcome of the same creating impact on the
European business and consumers. The developments regarding the competition policies are
positive in nature and therefore, the European Union has become the leading jurisdiction
regarding the anti-trust matters.
Challenges:
It is true that the competition policies have made a huge success since many years and
the aftermath effect of the same leads the European Union in its highest peak in the internal
markets. However, over some times, the policy has to face certain challenges regarding the
consumer affairs and the political environment has become conservative in nature. Certain
provisions that are engraved in the Article 102 of the treaty have been contained excessive
pricing catalogue. It is important to regulate the price policies as the interest of the consumers
are very much affected by the price policies. In the recent situation, regulatory interventions
are taking the place of the competition policies. The reason behind the same can be the
potentiality of the regulatory intervention than the competition policies.
EU commission
The European Union Commission is an institution of the European Union. It is solely
responsible for upholding the EU treaties and managing the everyday business of the Union
11. It operates from its headquarters located at Brussels, Belgium and also from Luxemburg.
The researcher has highlighted on the role of the mentioned administrative body in protecting
11 Hix, Simon. What's Wrong with the Europe Union and How to Fix it. John Wiley & Sons,
2013.

8EU COMPETITION LAW
the rights of the individuals 12. Consumer protection has been regarded as one of the top
agendas of the commission since the last decade. Earlier the commission was much dedicated
in creati9ng a global as well as a local market for the different goods and services of the
member states. However, the paradigm shift of the new and challenging market conditions
have forced the Commission to shift its focus into protecting the consumer rights of the
individuals. The charter of fundamental rights and the European treaties such as the single
European Act guarantee a high level of protection for the customers in the European Union.
The legislation constructed by the European Commission guarantees consumers;
a) Fair treatment
b) The products that meets the standard guidelines of the European Commission
c) There is a clause in the legislation which ensures the right to redress if something or
the other goes wrong
The European Commission takes certain steps to secure the rights of the consumers.
There are number of policies that determine the safety of the food, safety of the products and
the protection of the information. All the consumer related products and the other products
that are imported and exported in and from the EU premises must abide by the specific rules
as because failure to follow the specific rules that will attract penalties and seizures.
12 Jones, Alison, and Brenda Sufrin. EU competition law: text, cases, and materials. oxford
university Press, 2016.

9EU COMPETITION LAW
Safeguarding consumer welfare
Meaning
The European legislation formulated by the European Commission has formulated a
clear and transparent consumer protection policy to protect the interests of the customers. The
consumers and marketing legislation of the country have concentrated on protecting the
economic interests of the consumers. The following can be defined as the set of laws that
helps to curb the unfair consumer and commercial practices that are practiced by different
organizations in and outside Europe. This may be in the form of misleading advertisements,
problems in consumer contract laws 13. The commission looks after these false and
misleading advertisements and ensures that the consumers are not flown away by such wrong
advertisements. The European Union Consumer Laws consists of some key legislative
initiatives namely;
a. The directive that are involved in assessing the unfair terms of the contract- The
legislation prepared by the European Commission has a special directive that comes
to the rescue of the customers who may be victims of unfair terms in the consumer
contracts of the organization.
b. The directive related to consumer rights- The protection of the consumer rights is
one of the main objectives that is outlined in the legislation. The directive ensures the
protection of the consumer in both demographic respect and also contracts negotiated
away from the business premises as well as in respect of other aspects of consumer
contracts. The directives are also applicable on doorstep selling and other forms of
selling like online selling and phone selling.
c. The directive related to sales and guarantees- The following directive covers certain
aspects that relates to the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees.
13 Weatherill, Stephen. EU consumer law and policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013

10EU COMPETITION LAW
Objective
As mentioned earlier the formulation of different articles and laws by the European
Commission since the last decade has had the sole aim and objective to protect the interest of
the customers inside the European Union14. Articles 101 and 102 of the European
Commission legislation forms the legal basis for establishment of different measures that are
aimed at the creation and the control of the internal market within the European Union. The
act ensures a detailed security arrangement including the already mentio0ned consumer
protection and updating the law with new developments that are based on scientific facts. The
main objectives of the Articles are;
a. Directly or indirectly fix the purchase or the selling prices or any other trading
conditions.
b. Sharing the sources of supply or the markets
c. Applying the same conditions to equal transactions with the other trading parties
d. Making the conclusion of contracts subject to the acceptance by the other parties of
supplementary obligations which are based on commercial usage and have no
connection with the subject of the mentioned contracts15.
Some of the Sectoral measures of the European Union Commission are;
14 Crouch, Colin. "Introduction: labour markets and social policy after the crisis." Transfer:
European review of labour and research 20.1 (2014): 7-22.
15 McLean, Melanie. The Hidden Cost of Cheap Food: A Critical Account of Competition
Law and Supermarket Dominance. Diss. Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie
Law School, 2014.

11EU COMPETITION LAW
1. Consumer Groups
2. Consumer Education
3. Consumer Information
4. Enforcement of the consumer rights
Importance
Some of the key factors that makes the European legislation one of the most important
are;
a. Protects the interests of the consumers
b. Helps the consumers to select the right product
c. Helps to increase the quality of goods and services in the European zone
d. It ensures transparency which curbs any sort of menace while serving the consumers
e. It provides the customers with efficient and healthy products
f. It ensures the growth of the market
g. The Legislation is designed in an appropriate way and to regulate and control the
market
h. Upgrading the policies and maintain the standard guidelines is one of the key tasks of
the legislation process
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above named discussion, it is to be understood that the Treaty
regarding the foundation of the European Union has delivered certain procurement regarding
the implementation of the policies on competition matter16. There are certain treaties
implemented to regulate the competition within the provinces of the European Union and
16 Whish, Richard, and David Bailey. Competition law. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.

12EU COMPETITION LAW
among all the treaties, Treaty of Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of the
most important in this case17. The subject of the case is evolved with two provisions of the
treaty that are Article 101 and Article 102. Article 101 is a prohibitory section that restricts
them the market operators who wanted to stop the competitive mentality. Competition
provokes the various companies that are involved in the process of providing goods and
services to the consumers and helps to continue the potential growth regarding the marketing
policies. Article 101 to 109 of the TFEU has discussed about the provisions regarding the
rules of competition and its effects on the markets. The European legislation formulated by
the European Commission has formulated a transparent consumer protection policy to secure
the interests of the customers. It has been observed later that the European Union has shifted
its mentality from the protection of competition law to safeguards of the consumers. One of
the main reasons behind the same is that there are certain loopholes have been cropped up
regarding the competition policies. It is a fact that the competition policies had provided
many opportunities to the European Union and therefore, it is important to implement
necessary steps to lubricate the way of the competition policies and intervention of the Court
of Justice is important in this regard.
17 Wallace, Helen, Mark A. Pollack, and Alasdair R. Young, eds. Policy-making in the
European Union. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.

13EU COMPETITION LAW
References
Baker, Jonathan B., and Steven C. Salop. "Antitrust, competition policy, and
inequality." Geo. LJ Online 104 (2015): 1.
Bourgeois, Jacques. "Competition policy: the poor relation in the European Union free trade
agreements." The European Union in the world: essays in honor of Marc Maresceau.
Martinus Nijhoff, 2014. 381-397.
Buonanno, Laurie, and Neill Nugent. Policies and policy processes of the European Union.
Palgrave macmillan, 2013.
Crouch, Colin. "Introduction: labour markets and social policy after the crisis." Transfer:
European review of labour and research 20.1 (2014): 7-22.
Hix, Simon. What's Wrong with the Europe Union and How to Fix it. John Wiley & Sons,
2013.
Jones, Alison, and Brenda Sufrin. EU competition law: text, cases, and materials. oxford
university Press, 2016.
Kaczorowska-Ireland, Alina. Competition Law in the CARICOM Single Market and
Economy. Routledge, 2014.
McCormick, John. Understanding the European Union: a concise introduction. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2014.
McLean, Melanie. The Hidden Cost of Cheap Food: A Critical Account of Competition Law
and Supermarket Dominance. Diss. Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie Law
School, 2014.

14EU COMPETITION LAW
Nugent, Neill. The government and politics of the European Union. Springer, 2017.
Smith, Karen E. European Union foreign policy in a changing world. John Wiley & Sons,
2013.
Wallace, Helen, Mark A. Pollack, and Alasdair R. Young, eds. Policy-making in the
European Union. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.
Weatherill, Stephen. EU consumer law and policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013.
Whish, Richard, and David Bailey. Competition law. Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.
1.)