Market definition, dominance thresholds, and the as-efficient competitor test
Competition compliance is too often treated as a purely legal exercise. For firms operating
anywhere near the dominance threshold, this approach could leave significant blind spots.
Under Romanian competition law, dominance is presumed at 40% market share, a
threshold notably lower than in most European jurisdictions. This creates an environment
where the difference between robust compliance and material regulatory exposure may
hinge on the precision of economic analysis: how the relevant market is defined, how
shares are calculated, and how pricing practices are tested against the standards a
competition authority would actually apply.
