NEWSLETTER-2017

105 COMPETITION LAW Excessive Pricing* Att. Mehves Erdem Introduction Excessive pricing is one of the highly debated topics in competi- tion law. In brief, it could be defined as the designated price that is consistently higher than the fair price in the market. It is considered as a type of unfair pricing. Excessive pricing is interpreted differently in various legal systems, especially in the European Union (“EU”) and United Stated of America (“USA”). In the USA, excessive pricing is not considered as an abuse; whereas, in the EU, the competition au- thority in various cases considers it to be an abuse under Article 102(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). Turkish competition law maintains a parallel stance as compared to EU practice. Excessive Pricing Excessive pricing could be both exclusionary and exploitative. When an undertaking resorts to excessive pricing with an aim to weak- en its competitors’ position in the market, this action is regarded as exclusionary. This kind of behavior is mostly seen in vertical relation- ships. However, exploitative excessive pricing has a direct effect on customers. This direct effect is also considered to be grounds to accept excessive pricing as abusive behavior. Excessive pricing is accepted as a manner in which a monopolist undertaking abuses its dominant position. Even though it is considered as an abuse in EU and Turkish practice, excessive pricing is not regarded as a clear manner of abuse in each jurisdiction, there are certain conditions under which competi- tion authorities must adhere to throughout their investigations. * Article of June 2017