Abuse of a dominant position: Conduct by an enterprise that infringes Article 82 or an equivalent prohibition (for example under the UK Competition Act 1998 or the EEA Agreement).
Article 81: The EC Treaty prohibition of certain anti-competitive agreements. See Article 81.
Article 82: The EC Treaty prohibition of abuse of a dominant position. See Article 82.
Article 86: A provision in the EC Treaty regarding the application of the competition rules to enterprises providing public services or fiscal monopoly functions. See Article 86.
State aid: In EC
competition law, assistance given by the State insofar as it is regulated by
Article 87.
Competition law: The set of laws and regulations governing market behaviour, particularly agreements and practices that restrict competition and the acquisition and use of market power. EC competition law is based on Article 81 and Article 82, supplemented by Council Regulation 1/2003 and the EC Merger Regulation. UK competition law is based on the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002 (the Fair Trading Act 1973 has now been repealed in its entirety).
Competition policy: The political and analytical debate underpinning the development of competition law.
Dominant position: A position of
market power held by one or more undertakings in a
relevant market that triggers "special responsibilities" to avoid committing abuse under
competition law provisions such as
Article 82 or the equivalent prohibition in the UK
Competition Act 1998.
European Commission: One of the institutions of the European Union, also known as the Commission of the European Communities. It has responsibilities for the implementation of EC competition law. See DG Competition or http://ec.europa.eu/comm/index_en.htm.
European Communities (EC): One of the three pillars of the European Union (the other two are "common foreign and security policy" and "justice and home affairs"). Following the end of the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Communities comprise the European Community, originally established as the European Economic Community by the Treaty of Rome (1957), and Euratom. The EC created a new legal order, known as EC law, supervised by the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ), and which includes EC competition law.
