Margin squeeze: An overview of EU and national case law

1. Introduction [1] Formally, a margin squeeze occurs if a dominant provider in the (upstream) input market sets its wholesale price (too high) and retail prices (too low) such that competitors in the retail market which rely on the input from the dominant provider cannot earn a sufficiently high retail margin. In particular, the theory of harm postulates that such competitors’ retail margins would be too low in order to enable their long-term persistence or expansion in the retail market. This exposition of a margin squeeze is conceptually straightforward. However, the application of margin squeeze cases has been subject to much debate; not least since margin squeeze cases could be thought of being comprised by other types of abusive behaviours. In particular, too high wholesale