Newsletter-21

147 COMPETITION LAW European Commission Preliminary Report on the E-commerce Sector Inquiry* Att. Mehves Erdem Introduction The European Commission (“Commission”), on May 6, 2015 introduced a sector inquiry with regard to electronic commerce (“e- commerce”) of consumer goods and digital content in the European Union (“EU”). This inquiry is part of the Commission’s Digital Sin- gle Market Strategy that is designed to provide some leverage in the digital economy. It aimed to understand new market trends, as well as possible competition restrictions that could emerge with the develop- ment of e-commerce and business practices. On September 15, 2016, the Commission published its Prelimi- nary Report on the E-commerce Sector Inquiry (“Report”) 1 . In the Report, it is stated that EU is the largest e-commerce market in the world; therefore, its preliminary findings would give an idea of the Commission’s concerns and tips to the players in the market. The Report is mainly focused on two issues - e-commerce of consumer goods and digital content. This newsletter will focus on the preliminary key findings of the Commission that are stated to be effec- tive on distribution strategies, and to give rise to competition concerns. E-commerce in Goods The Commission has obtained information from a variety of mar- ket players, such as retailers, manufacturers, and online payment ser- vice providers operating in categories, including clothing, electronics, * Article of November 2016 1 http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/sector_inquiry_preliminary_report_ en.pdf.