Ban on abuse of a dominant position

The Dutch Competition Act (Mededingingswet) prohibits companies from abusing a dominant position. Your company is deemed to hold a dominant position if:

• you have no competitors
• your competitors are very small
• you do not have to take your customers or suppliers into account

Abuse of a dominant position is if your company causes harm to the competitive position (in Dutch) of your competitors. There are various types of abuse, such as:

• predatory pricing or price squeezing: a company offers products for less than cost with the aim to push others out of the market
• tying: the offering of a product or service together with another product or service as a condition for the purchase
• refusal of supply. You may refuse to supply products or information to certain purchasers, but not if it is harmful, i.e. your competitor is unable to perform services or supply products because of your refusal
• unreasonable high pricing (excessive prices)
• exclusive purchasing: if a dominant company requires buyers to purchase all units of a particular product only from them

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument en Markt, ACM) may impose fines if abuse is identified.