Insights

The Competition Council recently forged an original concept which was not expressly provided for by the law on competition and prices. This is the abuse of collective economic dependence which describes the situation of a company victim of abuse of dependence coming from several legal entities.

Unlike Article L420-2 of the French commercial code which targets practices implemented “by a company or a group of companies”, Tunisian law remains silent on the author of the prohibited actions (…).

In its opinion no. 3282 of July 17, 2003, the Competition Council adopted a position of principle regarding the interpretation of legislative silence. He clarified that “the absence of legal texts in a given matter cannot serve as a pretext to allow certain urgent, new or temporary phenomena to harm the national economy and market mechanisms.”

In case no. 121301 of December 25, 2015 relating to the market for the distribution of detergents through large and medium-sized supermarkets (GMS), the Competition Council aligned itself with French law. He specified that the applicant was in a situation of economic dependence of a special type which can be described as collective economic dependence on supermarkets.

If the consecration of this notion seems audacious at first glance, must we nevertheless adhere to it, subscribe to it, without question or reservations?