The refusal to deal with certain suppliers or beneficiaries – a type of dominant position abuse in the activity of undertakings

Abstract

The abuse of dominant position is an anticompetitive practice prohibited by the competition law which may be achieved in several ways. One of these, expressly and legislatively regulated by the Romanian competition law, is represented by the “refusal to deal with certain suppliers or beneficiaries”. However, the Romanian legislation does not define the concepts, infrequent in common law, used in the imposed interdiction nor does it specify the limits of “the refusal”. The notes defining the concepts can be however learned analyzing the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Hence it is necessary to determine the scope of the concepts and to identify the actual forms of expression of “the refusal to deal with certain suppliers or beneficiaries” in order to conclude whether or not there exist a prohibited abuse of dominant position.