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Allgemein

What Is Horizontal Agreements

The potential effects of such agreements may be the loss of competition between the parties to the agreement. Competitors can also benefit from the reduction in competitive pressure resulting from the agreement and may therefore consider it cost-effective to increase their prices. Reducing these competitive constraints can lead to higher prices in the market in question. Factors such as whether the parties to the agreement have high market shares, whether they are close competitors, whether customers have limited opportunities to switch suppliers, whether competitors are not likely to increase supply in the event of price increases and whether one of the parties to the agreement is a significant competitive force , are relevant to the assessment of the competition of the agreement. Horizontal cooperation agreements can restrict competition in several respects. The agreement can therefore: horizontal cooperation agreements between competitors who, on the basis of objective factors, would not be able to independently carry out the project covered by the cooperation or the activity covered by the cooperation. B, for example, because of the limited technical possibilities of the parties, will not, as a general rule, have restrictive effects on competition within the meaning of Article 101, paragraph 1, unless: the parties could have implemented the project with less stringent restrictions . A non-binding agreement between direct competitors can be reduced to a restrictive horizontal agreement depending on the state of thought. If research and development is aimed at developing a product that generates completely new demand, market shares cannot be calculated on the basis of sales.

Only an analysis of the impact of the agreement on competition in terms of innovation is possible. As a result, the E.B. class exemption regulation treats these agreements as agreements between non-competitors and exempts them, regardless of their market share, for the duration of the R and E; D common and an additional period of seven years after the first marketing of the product (84). However, the benefit of the category exemption may be removed if the agreement excludes effective competition in the area of innovation. At the end of these seven years, market shares can be calculated on the basis of the value of sales and the market share threshold is 25% (86). Third, marketing agreements can, for the parties, become a means of distributing contracts or assigning orders or customers. For example, in cases where the parties` production sites are located in different geographic markets or where the agreements are reciprocal. If entry into the market is sufficiently simple, a horizontal cooperation agreement is generally not expected to have restrictive effects on competition. In order for membership to be considered sufficient competitive pressure for parties to a horizontal cooperation agreement, it is necessary to demonstrate that it is likely, timely and sufficient to deter or overcome any restrictive effect of the agreement. The analysis of access can be compromised by the existence of horizontal cooperation agreements. The likely or potential termination of a horizontal cooperation agreement may affect the likelihood of occurrence. Pricing is a term associated with horizontal agreements.

This is an agreement whereby several competing companies enter into a secret agreement on pricing their products in order to avoid real competition. Price agreements are a criminal violation of federal cartel rules. Price fixing also involves secretly setting advantageous prices between suppliers and preferred manufacturers or distributors to beat the competition. Pricing is one of the main competition issues arising from marketing agreements between competitors.

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