Webstores in the cross hairs of Competition Authority

The Competition Authority will increasingly focus on online commerce in combatting anti-competitive agreements in the coming years.
 
A webstore may expect a massive monetary penalty if the Competition Authority finds out that the resale and algorithmic price fixings or geographical content blocking (geo-blocking) agreements of the webstore infringe the rules on the prohibition of competition restrictive agreements.
 
The Competition Authority will also pay special attention to issues related to price discrimination.
 
Notwithstanding, the monetary penalty can be avoided or reduced provided that the company is willing to cooperate with the authority.
 
It won’t be an easy situation for an online trading firm who concludes anti-competitive agreements when its offended competitor files a competition lawsuit. It is because the court can oblige the infringing party to a widespread disclosure of evidence: the offended party will no longer have to exactly specify the relevant documents; it will be enough to determine their type and category.
 
However, by the installment and regular application of an enterprise monitoring program for checking legal compliance can prevent anti-competitive infringing conducts and the proceedings of the Competition Authority or the competition lawsuits can be avoided.
 
For more personalized information do not hesitate to contact our experts at Ecovis Hungary Legal.