Drawing boundaries of modern markets—the main achievements and novelties of the Commission’s revised Market Definition Notice

Abstract The European Commission’s revised Market Definition Notice adopted in February 2024 is a significant development in the Commission’s competition toolbox. The revised Notice builds on its predecessor and uses the extensive experience of DG Competition gained and refined while assessing the boundaries of markets in thousands of merger and antitrust cases over the last 25 years. It is a comprehensive, practical, and modern compilation of market definition guidance. Moreover, it includes new guidance on topics that were not (sufficiently) covered in the 1997 Market Definition Notice, such as approaches for defining markets with high levels of innovation and R&D activity, digital markets, markets with significant differentiation and in cases with discrimination of customers or customer groups, as well as non-price parameters of competition. The revised Market Definition Notice brings the Commission’s market definition guidance up to date with modern business realities and allows stakeholders to better understand how the Commission approaches definitions of traditional as well as more nascent, new markets—thus contributing to increased legal certainty and predictability for stakeholders.