Pricing

We advise clients on pricing practices under Irish and EU competition law including

• Resale Price Maintenance

Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) can occur where a manufacturer sets the price at which its distributors can sell.

RPM can occur directly (for example, as a term in a contract) or indirectly (for example, as a result of the agreed practice of companies). RPM is regarded as a hard-core competition breach under both EU and Irish competition law and has the potential to attract significant penalties. Regulators are increasingly focusing their enforcement powers on companies engaging in RPM. We know that pricing mechanisms can be complex and that different industries raise different issues. We regularly advise clients on designing and implementing pricing structures in distribution agreements and agency agreements which work for their business and are compliant with competition law

• Predatory pricing and excessive pricing

We advise clients on certain pricing practices which can raise issues when undertaken by companies in a 'dominant position' on the market.

Pricing abuses include both excessive pricing and low-cost or 'predatory' pricing (for example, selling at an unreasonably low price such as below cost with the intention of driving out a competitor and recovering the loss when the competitor has left the market). We also regularly advise clients on submitting complaints to regulators concerning competitor's pricing practices.

• Discounts and rebates
• Price-fixing and 'cartels'
• Hub and spoke pricing practices
• Price signaling
• Information sharing between competitors concerning prices.