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Her
announcement came amidst criticism by lawyers and academics that
the European Union's antitrust laws have failed to keep up with
the times as regulators examine mergers and anti-competitive
practices involving global online companies.
How regulators define markets can help them measure a company's
pricing power in a merger or its power to shut out rivals in an
antitrust case and the concessions they extract from these
companies. The current rules date back to 1997.
"Changes like globalization and digitization mean that many
markets work rather differently from the way they did, 22 years
ago," Vestager told a Chillin Competition conference.
"So the time has come to review the Market Definition Notice. We
want to be sure that the guidance it gives is accurate and up to
date, and sets out a clear and consistent approach to both
antitrust and merger cases across different industries, in a way
that's easily accessible," she said, calling for feedback from
interested parties.
The review will look into the geographic scope of markets.
Siemens and Alstom, whose deal was blocked by Vestager in
February, had argued that regulators should have taken more into
account Chinese rivals and the global market.
Regulators will also examine how markets are defined in terms of
products and whether consumers can easily switch from one
product to another, in particular as digitalization means some
products are free while some tech giants are also active in
different areas.
"So there may be times when we also need to look at the way that
these ecosystems can leave consumers locked in," Vestager said.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter)
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