Competition law and enforcement often focuses on sellers and the conditions on which they sell their products or services to buyers. However, competition also impacts how buyers interact with markets when purchasing goods and services, and competition law similarly applies to these interactions in many settings and jurisdictions. These matters can range from co-ordinated conduct by buyers, such as cartels that conspire to lower purchase prices, to unilateral conduct by buyers that hold substantial purchasing power, with the focus of assessment being on monopsony or oligopsony power rather than the more common assessment of monopoly or oligopoly.
In June 2022, the OECD held a roundtable that explored purchasing power and buyers' cartel. This roundtable had a particular focus on buyer's cartels, including how authorities deal with these and whether there are differences in approach between them and sellers’ cartels. It also considered joint purchasing agreements, how distinct these are from cartels, as well as how authorities regulate the conduct of permitted joint purchasing agreements, such as their ability to boycott sellers.
The discussions revealed:
- a high-level agreement on the need to consider competition issues in purchasing markets, both for monopsony power and bargaining power,
- significant convergence on the treatment of buyers' cartels and joint purchasing agreements between jurisdictions, although levels of enforcement differ,
- conversely, there are significantly different domestic legal systems for dealing with purchasing power when exercised unilaterally.
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