Sutarties dėl Europos Sąjungos veikimo 102 straipsnio reformos įtaka objektyvaus pateisinimo sampratos raidai

Abstract

The author of this article deals with the concept of objective justification—an argument for justifying the possible abuse of a dominant position which formed in the practice of EU Commission and the case-law. The evolution of the concept of objective justification after the reform of Article 102 of the Treaty on European Union Functioning (TFEU, former Article 82 of the EC Treaty) is also scrutinised. The object of analysis in the paper is the concept of objective justification itself, its types (categories), application criteria (conditions) and principles, inter alia, the issues on the share of burden of proof between the suspected undertaking and the subject alleging the abuse of dominant position, their regulation before the reform and in the main reform documents of the Commission—the 2005 Discussion Paper and the 2008 Communication (the Guidelines). The aim of the paper is to identify what impact the implemented reform has had on the concept of objective justification. The author of the paper notices that the main types (categories) of objective justification were identified in the case-law, however, only after the Commission’s reform were these types clearly separated and the conditions of their application specified.