Upstream market

Market at the previous stage of the production/distribution chain, for example, the production, distribution and marketing of motor vehicles would be an upstream market in relation to the sale of motor vehicles to final consumers. Source: Glossary of terms used in EU...

Undertaking

For the purpose of EU antitrust law, any entity engaged in an economic activity, that is, an activity consisting in offering goods or services on a given market, regardless of its legal status and the way in which it is financed, is considered an undertaking. To...

Unbundling

Separation of the various components of production, distribution and service in order to introduce greater elements of competition to these segments of an industry. ‘Functional unbundling’ requires monopolistic utilities to provide access to (part of) their...

Tying or tied selling

Commercial practice of conditioning the sale of one product on the purchase of another product. If tying is not objectively justified by the nature of the products or their commercial usage, such practice may restrict competition. Economic theory suggests that a firm...

Turnover threshold

The combined annual turnover of the parties is used in the field of merger control as a criterion to divide competence between Member States and the Commission. Concentrations where the parties’ combined turnover exceeds the thresholds set in Article 1 of the merger...