In this memo, Matthew Bennett discusses the recent interest by competition authorities in vertical communications between manufacturers and retailers, and explains the dangers of conflating Recommended Retail Prices, which are relatively common and pro-competitive, with Retail Price Maintenance, which is treated as a hard-core competition law infringement in Europe.
CRA Competition's response to EU Draft Merger Guidelines: An economic perspective on the emerging framework
Our European Competition team has contributed to the economic assessment in nearly a third of distinct merger decisions cited in the draft, (46 out of 164)...