Criteria for the choice of a benchmark price in cases concerning monopolistic pricing

Abstract

A critical issue for the implementation of the comparable markets method in antitrust are the criteria for choosing benchmarks. The paper focuses on the criteria for determining benchmark price levels for cases involving abuse of dominance in the form of excessive or predatory pricing. We determine the set of the most important criteria for choosing benchmark prices (such as geographical and climate conditions, standard terms of contracts, macroeconomic environment, particularities of market structures etc.) and show how the significance of specific criteria depends on the implemented form of the method and the characteristics of particular markets. The choice of criteria also introduces certain limitations on interpreting the results of comparable markets analysis, however, it is possible to soften these limitations by using additional approximations, assumptions and additional calculations.