The indirect route of securing interest of consumers and competitors under the EU competition law

La ruta indirecta para asegurar los intereses de los consumidores y competidores bajo el derecho de la competencia de la Unión Europea

The theme of the present article is to deliver the notion that in order to enforce competition rules which, are aimed at maintaining a balance between profitability of the competitors and welfare of the consumers, the crucial aspect in attainting it is a healthy competitive market. Therefore, an attempt is made to analyses the role and practice of the European Courts and the Commission in protecting the structure of the competitive market as a means to secure the interests of the consumers and competitors. To convey the notion of the paper, sustenance from one of the imperative decisions given by the European Court of Justice purporting the predominant idea has been taken from the case of GlaxoSmithKline v Commission¹ and other relevant cases from the locales of Article 101 coupled with Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The idea is to critically discuss the rationale of the decision delivered by the hierarchy of courts, the object-effect dichotomy under Article 101(1) for apprehending anti- competitive conduct, and to reflect upon the Commission guidelines.