The European Commission's revised guidelines on abuses of dominance mark a return to formalism, retreating from the economics-driven “as-efficient-competitor” test to introduce presumptions of harm, a sliding scale of enforcement and per se abuses. Skadden’s Bill Batchelor, Aleksandar Leshev, Vikram Pandit and Katie Reid discuss the shift in the evidential balance intended to make it easier for the EC to establish infringements through presumptions of harm and the practices potentially subject to stricter standards, such as distributing suites of software via digital platforms, restricting platform access and “self-preferencing.”
Bill Batchelor, Aleksandar Leshev, Vikram J. Pandit, Katie H. Reid, Part VI - New EU Dominance Guidelines target rebates, self-preferencing and digital platforms, 1 November 2026, Concurrences N° 11-2026, Art. N° 139935, www.concurrences.com