The EU Court of Justice finds a major FMCG company liable for abuse of dominance due to exclusivity clauses imposed by its independent distributors on operators of sale outlets (Unilever Italia)

Abuse of a dominant position: exclusivity clauses in distribution contracts must be capable of having exclusionary effects* The competition authority is obliged to assess that actual capacity to exclude by also taking into account the evidence submitted by the undertaking in a dominant position By decision of 31 October 2017, the Italian Competition and Markets Authority (‘the AGCM’) [1] found that Unilever Italia Mkt. Operations Srl (‘Unilever’) had abused its dominant position on the Italian market for the sale of individually packaged ice cream intended for consumption ‘outside’, that is to say, away from consumers’ homes, at various sales outlets. The abuse alleged against Unilever resulted from conduct materially committed not by that company, but by independent distributors of