Competitive Neutrality: when taxation meets competition law

Competitive neutrality and the principle of free and undistorted competition (Olivier Fréget)

As Frédéric Jenny points out in his article [1], the concept of competitive neutrality refers to the absolute equality of competitors, which can be applied to all aspects of the company’s activity (access to resources, outlets, etc.). This is indispensable because it must make it possible to achieve the best cost-effectiveness ratio so that the resulting gains can be passed on to the consumer.

This ideal situation can, however, be disrupted by state intervention. An attempt can be made to draw up a summary typology in order to be able to identify the tools that will make it possible to reduce these "breaks" in competitive neutrality (European Union law, use of the constitutional principle of equality before the law...).