ERDEM-NEWSLETTER-2018-metin

83 COMPETITION LAW strong market position could be suddenly challenged if there are low barriers to entering the market, thus leading to dominant firms rapidly losing their ephemeral market power. All in all, there various nuances when determining dominance in a particular digital market concerning an online platform. Finally, it will be assessed whether alleged practices constitute abuse in terms of Article 102 of the TFEU, which is a process requiring case-by-case evaluation. Various potential forms of abuse in regard to online platforms include pricing and ranking discriminations (the plat- form may charge different prices from trading parties within the same customer group, or alter the listings in a way that favors entries from a particular party) and price parities (commonly most-favored nation clauses where the trading parties that supply through the platform are required to provide the best conditions to the platform), amongst oth- ers. In order to ascertain whether Amazon holds the dominant posi- tion in a given market, and whether its practices constitute abuse of dominance, we will have to wait for the decision of Bundeskartellamt in the coming months. Conclusion It is evident that dominant online platforms will be subject to the same scrutiny under Article 102 of the TFEU, as dominant non- platform undertakings, and perhaps even more so, due to the raising interest in online markets. Indeed, online platforms pose a number of interesting questions in relation to various aspects of competition law assessments. Competition authorities across Europe are still in search of an approach towards these issues, and such uncertainties raise criti- cism in light of the need for legal certainty. Significant caution will need to be taken when applying general principles to online platforms, also in light of the fast-moving nature of these businesses. Bundeskartellamt’s investigation against Amazon has the poten- tial to be an important milestone in modern competition law enforce- ment, as it will illustrate a prominent competition authority’s position