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Competition

Geographic market definition across national borders

 

Defining the geographic scope of a market that may have national or broader borders can be a challenging process for competition agencies, especially in merger reviews and abuse of dominance cases. 

More generally, the topic became relevant in light of several long-term market trends, including globalisation, trade liberalisation and digitalisation. In addition, improvements in international shipping and door-to-door delivery networks for consumers are increasing the reach of suppliers at the retail and wholesale levels. These trends increase the complexity of geographic market definition.

The OECD held a roundtable in November 2016 to identify challenges faced by agencies to delineate markets that may have national or broader borders, and discussed how those challenges are being overcome. The discussion also touched on current approaches in terms of evidence and analysis (e.g. pricing patterns and import data) as well as some areas of controversy, such as supply substitution. 

SEE ALSO

Full list of Competition Policy Roundtables

NOVEMBER 2016 SESSION DOCUMENTATION

Key documents

Background Note by the OECD Secretariat • Note de Référence

Executive summary with key findings • Synthèse 

Detailed summary of the discussion • Compte rendu succint

Summaries of participants contributions

 

Panellists and papers 

Bruce LYONS Bio
Professor of Economics and Deputy Director of the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia presenting 
Geographic Market Definition in European Commission Merger Control 

Jorge PADILLA Bio
Senior Managing Director and Head of Compass Lexecon Europe

Contributions from participants

Argentina

Australia

Belgium

BIAC

EU

Hungary

Indonesia

Israel

Japan

Korea

 

Lithuania

Mexico IFT

Mexico COFECE

New Zealand

Romania

Russia

Spain

Sweden

Chinese Taipei

Ukraine

United States

PRESENTATIONS

   

RELATED MATERIAL  

OECD Handbook on Competition Policy in the Digital Age 

Market definition, 2012

Enhanced enforcement co-operation, 2014

Remedies in cross-border merger cases, 2013

Limitations and constraints to international co-operation, 2012

Improving international co-operation in cartel investigations, 2012

 

» Access the full list of Competition Policy Roundtables

» Link to the  OECD Competition Home Page 

 

 

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