NEWSLETTER-2017

95 COMPETITION LAW Evaluation of the European Commission E-Commerce Sector Inquiry with regard to Consumer Goods* Att. Mert Karamustafaoglu Introduction The European Commission’s (“EU Commission”) e-commerce sector inquiry that started on May 6, 2015 is finalized, and the final report (“E-commerce Report”) is published 1 . The EU e-commerce market, which has been systematically grown in the past few years, is one of the largest markets in the world. The percentage of people who shop online was 30% in 2007, and it increased to 55% in 2016 2 . The E-Commerce Report enabled the EU Commission to analyze all the dynamics, competitive concerns and market practices in the e-commerce market. Thus, in the context of the resolutions of the E- Commerce Report, in the long term, various changes may be observed within the European Union competition law. For the purposes of the e-commerce sector inquiry, the EU Com- mission addressed information requests to more than 1700 undertak- ings that carry on business in the e-commerce market, and opinion requests to 28 member states. Also, the EU Commission evaluated 9.000 contracts within the frame of the sector inquiry. The fact that the EU Commission gathered information from such a large group indicates that the EU Commission has studied the market from various aspects. The E-Commerce Report has two main sections. The first chapter is with regard to consumption goods, and the second section is with re- * Article of May 2017 1 For detailed information; http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/sector_inqui- ry_final_report_en.pdf (Date accessed: 24.05.2017). 2 For detailed information; E-commerce Report, p.3.