Browsing by Author "Oulasvirta, Katja"

The Master of law thesis is a comparative study of the EU and Finnish competition law. The thesis evaluates whether refusal to supply constitutes abuse of dominant position under the EU and Finnish competition law regimes. The notion of freedom to contract is also noted when evaluating the research question. Moreover, particular attention is given for objective justifications for the general prohibition of refusal to supply. Objective justifications mean that a dominant company may be exempted from the general prohibition of refusal to supply in accordance with the competition law. The Master of law thesis gives a general view of how dominance is evaluated under the EU and Finnish competition laws. Moreover, abuse of dominance is analysed through the selected case-law examples under both legal systems. Without dominance no abuse can exist under competition law. In depth analysis is given for evaluating the refusal to supply through relevant case-law under the EU and Finnish competition laws. Evaluation is focused on giving examples when refusal to supply has been found prohibited as abuse of dominant position and which similarities exist between the European Union and Finnish competition laws regarding refusal to supply. Attention is also made for exemptions to the general prohibition of refusal to supply by dominant companies. Examples of objective justifications have been found to be customer insolvency, resource constraints or protecting one´s economic interests.