competitionlaw

Applying the de minimis doctrine in the Epicerie de Luxembourg case [1] the Luxembourg Competition Authority (LCA) refrained from penalizing the parties to a horizontal price-fixing agreement in the retail sector. The conducts of the parties were found to not have an appreciable competition impact; on the contrary, these conducts were expected to generate efficiency gains in terms of lower retail prices. In 2015 four Luxembourg-based retailer operators, Alima, Massen, Food2Go and Pall Center, launched the common label ‘Epicerie de Luxembourg’(EDL). Under this label they run a website and also published a monthly leaflet, then replaced by a magazine. This magazine referenced on average 50 products offered at a promotional price jointly determined by the parties. The goal pursued by Alima, Massen, Food2Go and Pall Center with the creation of the EDL label was to improve their image and visibility in the retail markets by means of common marketing campaigns. The first issue con...

Introduction Reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fix prices may be regarded as a pro-competitive factor that comes into relevance to clear a horizontal price-fixing arrangement if the use of AI leads to lower prices for consumers. This is the take-away lesson from a decision recently handed down by the Luxembourg Competition Authority (LCA) in the Webtaxi case [1] . The facts of the case Webtaxi is a platform for the provision of booking taxis service. Clients can book their taxis by phone, calling Webtaxi or any taxi operators participating to the platform, and also through an app or the website made available by Webtaxi. The booking requests are then matched by Webtaxi with the available taxi drivers on the basis of geographical position and the other criteria chosen by clients. The taxi fares are automatically calculated by the platform with an algorithm that takes into account distance, time and traffic condition. Taxi drivers and customers are not allowed to n...