Abuse below the Threshold of Dominance? Market Power, Market Dominance, and Abuse of Economic Dependence

The traditional approach to defining dominance gives an important role to market shares and market delineation. In that respect, market shares constitute an intervention threshold that may lead competition authorities to neglect certain types of market power, although this traditional approach contributes to increasing the level of legal certainty for undertakings. A number of European countries have passed laws to intervene in cases falling short of dominance, such as abuse of economic dependence. Briefly defined, economic dependence arises when a supplier is economically dependent on a buyer or vice versa. The interest in economic dependence grew when the concentration of some industries rose substantially and the firms engaged in practices that harmed small businesses.