Antitrust
Sector inquiries
Sector inquiries are investigations that the European Commission carries out into sectors of the economy and into types of agreements across various sectors.
The Commission may decide to start a sector inquiry when a market does not seem to be working as well as it should. This might be suggested by evidence such as limited trade between Member States, lack of new entrants on the market, the rigidity of prices, or other circumstances suggest that competition may be restricted or distorted within the common market.
In the course of the inquiry, the Commission may request that firms - undertakings or associations of undertakings - concerned supply information (for example, price information). This information is used by the Commission to asses whether it needs to open specific investigations into intervene to ensure the respect of Community rules on restrictive agreements and abuse of dominant position (Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty).
The results of sector inquires are published in a report and interested parties are invited to submit their comments.
The following sectors have been subject of an inquiry:
|
