COMPETITION LAW IN DIGITAL ERA – HOW TO DEFINE THE RELEVANT MARKET?

Abstract

Competition law serves as an important tool for regulation of undertakings. In order to conduct a competition law analysis, one must first define the relevant market. However, this task is becoming more intricate in today’s digital era, especially in relation to so-called zero-price markets. These markets are characterised as markets where users of products or services do not pay for the use, at least they do not pay by money. This paper asks how to define relevant market in such case. Three methods of relevant market definition are presented, namely qualitative analysis, SSNIP test and SSNDQ test. The paper briefly explores positive and negative elements of these tests and compares the findings with the European Commission’s 2019 report. It leads to the answer that qualitative method might have certain advantages in this regard.