The EC’s Draft Guidelines on the Application of Article 102 TFEU: An Economic Perspective

The European Commission’s Draft Guidelines on the application of Article 102 TFEU represent a disappointing shift from the effects-based approach of the 2008 Guidance Paper, reintroducing a form-based framework for assessing exclusionary conduct by dominant firms. This change prioritizes legal presumptions over evidence-based evaluations, which threatens to undermine the primary goal of competition policy of fostering competitive outcomes that benefit consumers. This article explains that depa