Self Assessment under the Vertical Guidelines: Economic Concepts In Practice

Adrian Majumdar spoke on 'Self Assessment under the Vertical Guidelines: Economic Concepts In Practice' at a recent GCR conference on vertical restraints in Brussels. Adrian also chaired a panel on exclusionary behaviour at the UEA Centre for Competition Policy 6th Annual conference on Vertical Restraints, held in Norwich.RBB advised DFDS on its proposed acquisition of Norfolk, which was cleared at Phase I by the European Commission subject to conditions. DFDS and Norfolk operate sea transport networks mainly in Western and Northern Europe. Their main activities are Roll-on/Roll-off ("Ro-Ro"), passenger sea transport, sea terminal services and freight forwarding. The Commission’s principal competition concern related to Ro-Ro services between Denmark and the UK, where pre-merger Norfolk was active via a space charter agreement, where it purchased space on DFDS vessels. DFDS proposed to conclude a space charter agreement with a competitor on similar terms to the current one with Norfolk for vessels operating between Denmark and the UK and to transfer customers. The Commission concluded this remedy would remove the competition concerns initially identified in its investigation.