Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2001:272
Date: 2001-11-22
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Dominant position
Concepts: Definition;Geographical market;Criteria for establishing the existence of a dominant position
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Competition — Dominant position — Relevant market — Geographical delimita­
tion — Criteria 
(EC Treaty, Art. 86 (now Art. 82 EC)) 
2. Competition — Dominant position — Existence — Evidence — Market share 
(EC Treaty, Art. 86 (now Art. 82 EC» 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-139/98 
3. Competition — Dominant position — Meaning 
(EC Treaty, Art. 86 (now Art. 82 EC)) 
1. In the general scheme of Article 86 of 
the EC Treaty (now Article 82 EC) the 
geographical market must be defined 
so as to determine whether the under­
taking concerned is in a dominant 
position in the Community or a sub­
stantial part of it. The definition of the 
geographical market calls for an eco­
nomic assessment. The market can thus 
be defined as the territory in which all 
traders operate under the same, or 
sufficiently similar, conditions of com­
petition in so far as concerns specifi­
cally the relevant products, without it 
being necessary for the objective con­
ditions of competition between traders 
to be perfectly homogeneous. Further­
more, the market may be confined to a 
single Member State. 
(see para. 39) 
2. The possession of very large market 
shares is in itself and save in excep­
tional circumstances, evidence of the 
existence of a dominant position. An 
undertaking which has a very large 
market share and holds it for some 
time, by means of the volume of 
production and the scale of the supply 
which it stands for — without holders 
of much smaller market shares being 
able to meet rapidly the demand from 
those who would like to break away 
from the undertaking which has the 
largest market share — is by virtue of 
that share in a position of strength 
which makes it an unavoidable trading 
partner and which, because of this 
alone, secures for it, at the very least 
during relatively long periods, that 
freedom of action which is the special 
feature of a dominant position. 
(see para. 51) 
3. A dominant position is a position of 
economic strength enjoyed by an 
undertaking which enables it to prevent 
effective competition being maintained 
on the relevant market by giving it the 
power to behave to an appreciable 
extent independently of its competi­
tors, customers and ultimately of its 
consumers. 
(see para. 51) 
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