General

Question 1

What can the EU commission do when a country is not living up to the Treatie?

Answer 1

Article 258 TFEU states that when a Member State has failed to fulfil an obligation under the Treaties, the European Commission shall deliver a reasoned opinion after it has given the
State concerned the opportunity to submit its observations

Question 2

In which two categories is the relevant market as in competition law devided?

Answer 2

1. product market
2. geographical market

Question 3

How can you determine if two products are in the same product market?

Answer 3

Using the SSNIP (Small but Significant Non-transitory Increase in Price) test:

by assessing, whether customers would switch to other readily available substitute products or to suppliers located elsewhere in response to a hypothetical small (5-10%) but permanent increase in price of the product in question. If that is the case, then the two products are interchangeable and are in the same product market.

Question 4

How can you determine the geographical market?

Answer 4

The relevant geographical market concerns the place where the offer takes place. The conceptual approach taken here is the same and also based on the SSNIP test. It assesses the extent to which the customers of a product in question would switch to suppliers located in other territories in response to a hypothetical small but permanent increase in price of that given product.

When looking at supply substitution and how this plays a role on the evaluating the geographic dimension of the market, one needs to identify the possibility of other suppliers, located outside a certain geographic area, to start supplying that area in the short term and without incurring significant additional costs or risks.

Question 5

What are the sources of EU fundamental rights?

Answer 5

1. Fundamental rights derived from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States (the unwritten bill of rights);
2. The ECHR (the external bill of rights);
3. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the written bill of rights) (hereinafter ‘the Charter’).