Sales, Discounts, Rebates – some of you might have been lucky with some bargains during Winter Sales 21/22. So who would say that rebates are a bad thing? You guessed it: The Competition Law community, albeit – as always in law – it depends. From a Competition Law perspective, rebates schemes are ordinarily unproblematic or might even be beneficial consumer welfare. If used by dominant companies, however, certain types of rebates, in particular exclusivity or loyalty rebates, can be abusive under Article 102 TFEU. The General Court's recent Intel judgment, handed down on 26 January 2022, offers the latest update on the controversy as to when such rebates are unlawful.
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