Abusive Pricing: ECJ Clarifies Rules On Selective Discounts And Below-Cost Selling

Recently, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down its judgment on a preliminary reference from the Danish Supreme Court regarding the rules on selective discounts and below-cost selling under the competition law prohibition of the abuse of a dominant market position.

The abuse prohibition is found at Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This judgment contains significant clarification of key aspects of abusive pricing under Article 102. Above all, it explains the basis on which selective discounts can be found to be abusive, by stating that price discrimination cannot of itself indicate abusive exclusion of competition. 

The background: the Danish market for unaddressed mail