The Danish Association of Peugeot Dealers’ collective boycott of bilbasen.dk is illegal

On February 23 2022, The Danish Competition Council decided that the association of car dealers of the brand Peugeot, Peugeot Forhandler Foreningen (“PFF”), has infringed Section 6 in the Danish Competition Act and TFEU Article 101(1) by deciding a collective boycott of the digital market place for advertisement of cars, bilbasen.dk, in order to promote the competitor, biltorvet.dk.

Documents from a dawn raid conducted in April 2018 revealed e-mail correspondence between individual car dealers of the brand Peugeot and board members of PFF and between board members of PFF. The e-mail correspondence concerns that the independent car dealers of the brand Peugeot should refrain from advertising on bilbasen.dk and instead advertise on biltorvet.dk.

The aim of the collective boycott was to limit competition on the Danish market for digital marketplaces for advertisement of cars. As part herein, the aim of the collective boycott was to limit competition on the Danish market for the sale of used cars.

The collective boycott may have had a harmful effect on both consumers (potential buyers of cars on bilbasen.dk) and car sellers advertising on bilbasen.dk. Network effects within the Danish market for digital marketplaces for advertisement of cars may have increased the harmful effects of the collective boycott.

The Danish Competition Counsel found that the decision within PFF has not given rise to procompetitive effects.

The Danish Competition Counsel also found that the conditions for an exemption according to Section 8(1) in the Danish Competition Act and TFEU art. 101(3) were not fulfilled.

The case shows that there are limits as to what undertakings are allowed to do towards a larger digital platform on a market with network effects. In the specific case, the collective boycott constitutes a violation of the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements.

The Danish Competition Council has reported PFF to the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime (now Special Crime Unit).

For further information, please contact +45 41 71 50 98