Evaluation findings

Overall, the evidence gathered in the evaluation suggests that the notice is a very useful instrument that remains generally relevant. It facilitates competition enforcement and compliance in the EU by providing transparency on an important first step in many of the Commission’s competition assessments and by allowing companies to better anticipate whether the Commission may raise competition concerns.

Estimated savings and benefits

The evidence gathered in the evaluation suggests that there appear to be no costs associated with the notice as compared to a scenario where no guidance would be provided. On the contrary, the notice generates benefits not only for the Commission’s work but also for the stakeholders using it. This is because by clarifying the principles the Commission takes into account when defining markets and the most important elements it uses in that process, the notice helps companies to reduce costs. These include: (i) costs associated with external legal assistance, and (ii) costs of competition law infringements stemming from an incorrect assessment of their market position (legal fees and fines as well as negative effects of losing investments or changing commercial strategy).

There is evidence to suggest that those savings may be significant although they could not be quantified precisely in the evaluation. Furthermore, the notice generates additional sizeable benefits by helping to meet the need to facilitate competition enforcement and compliance in the internal market, to the benefit of consumers.

The evaluation results indicate that the notice’s benefits for both stakeholders and the Commission could increase if further guidance, and thus transparency, was provided on certain specific points.