Rebates granted by dominant undertakings – can the recent case law of the Court of Justice be defended? Judgment of the General Court of 12 June 2014 in case T-286/09 – Intel Corp. v European Commission

: The case comment attempts to seek arguments to defend the formalistic approach adopted by the General Court in a recent judgment regarding rebates granted by undertakings holding dominant position. However, in spite of certain advantages of such approach, it does not seem appropriate for the assessment of conditional rebates and it is not in line with the recent developments of competition law. The case comment criticizes in particular the per se prohibition of loyalty rebates adopted by the General Court and the depreciation of the usefulness of the AEC test as a tool to demonstrate exclusionary effects of certain rebates. The last part of the case comment presents some de lege ferenda remarks