Conservatory measures imposed on firms by the Commission in relation to a competition case, in which a final decision on the substance has not been reached yet, in order to avoid that anti-competitive behaviour leads to irreversible damage before being sanctioned. Interim measures may be taken on the Commission’s own initiative, but are often requested together with a formal complaint. They can only be granted if the two following conditions are both met: - a firm’s behaviour prima facie constitutes an infringement of competition rules and - there is urgency, i.e. a risk of serious and irreparable harm to the applicant. For instance, a company whose existence is threatened by a potentially anti-competitive conduct of another company may request the Commission to investigate the matter under competition law, and in addition ask the Commission to prohibit the conduct in question until the investigation is terminated by a formal decision. The Commission can also take interim measures in merger cases in order to prevent the implementation of concentrations before the Commission has cleared them. The Merger Regulation prohibits the implementation prior to the Commission’s authorisation to avoid irreversible changes to the market structure before it is certain that a concentration is actually clearable. Interim measures can also be granted by the President of the Court of First Instance, to prevent a company from suffering serious and irreparable harm by the enforcement of a Commission decision the legality of which is challenged by that same company in a main action. European Commission

This Glossary matches the list of keywords used by Concurrences search engine. Each keyword is automatically updated by the most recent EU and national case laws from the e-Competitions Bulletin and Concurrences Review. The definitions are excerpt from DG COMP’s Glossary of terms used in EU competition policy (© European Union, 2002) and the OECD’s Glossary of industrial organisation economics and competition law (© OECD, 1993).
Interim measures
Glossary
A
Absolute territorial protection
•
Abuse of dominant position
•
Abuse of economic dependence
•
Access to essential facility
•
Access to information
•
Access to the file
•
Agency agreement
•
Agent
•
Agreement (notion)
•
Amicus curiae
•
Ancillary restraints
•
Annulment
•
Anticompetitive objet or effect
•
Anticompetitive practices
•
Applicable law
•
Arbitration
B
C
Cartel
•
Clearance phase I (merger)
•
Clearance phase II (merger)
•
Collecting society
•
Collective dominance
•
Collective redress (class action)
•
Competence
•
Competition policy
•
Competition policy
•
Complaint
•
Compliance programme
•
Compulsory license
•
Concerted practices
•
Concession
•
Concurrent jurisdiction
•
Consumers protection
•
Consumers’ associations
•
Control (change)
•
Control (notion)
•
Cooperation Agreement
•
Cooperation between competition authorities
•
Coordinated effects
•
Copyright
•
Corporate group
•
Corruption
•
Cost-based access
•
Criminal sanctions
•
Cross subsidisation
D
E
ECHR
•
Economic analysis
•
Economic efficiency
•
Effect on trade between Member States
•
Effective judicial protection
•
Environmental protection
•
Essential facility
•
European Competition Network (ECN)
•
Excess prices
•
Exchanges of information
•
Exclusive distribution
•
Exclusive purchasing agreement
•
Exclusive right (Art. 106 TFEU)
•
Exclusivity clause
•
Exhaustion
•
Extra-territoriality
F
I
M
P
Parallel imports (parallel trade)
•
Passing-on
•
Pay-for-delay
•
Periodic penalty payment
•
Personal data
•
Predatory pricing
•
Preliminary ruling (Art. 267 TFUE)
•
Price discrimination
•
Price-fixing agreement
•
Prices
•
Principle of effectiveness
•
Principle of equal treatment
•
Principle of equivalence
•
Principle of proportionality
•
Private enforcement
•
Privatization
•
Procedural autonomy
•
Professional association
•
Public procurement
•
Public undertaking
R
S
Sector inquiry
•
Selective distribution
•
Services of general economic interest
•
Single branding
•
Sole control
•
Spill-over effects
•
Standard-Essential Patent (SEP)
•
State action defense
•
State aid (compatibility)
•
State aid (existing aid)
•
State aid (notification)
•
State aid (notion)
•
State aid (recovery)
•
State aid (tax ruling)
•
State aid (unlawful aid)
•
State measure
•
Sudden break of established business relationships