Informal Consultation on the “de minimis” rules.
Please send this questionnaire or your comments/remarks back to us before
15th February 2011.
Questionnaire from Producers point of view
1) Assume that you are a small manufacturer and you sell your goods to various distributors who
resell them to final consumers. What do you think the effect would be if you require your
distributors not to sell the goods below a certain price level?
This would allow me to incentivise my distributors to invest more in advertising and
promotion of these goods, which would overall be beneficial for competition and for
consumers;
This would deprive my distributors of an essential way to compete and make my product
less successful and would overall be bad for competition and consumers;
Different from the above, namely the effect would be ………………………………….
Don't know.
2) Do you consider the scenario of a small manufacturer requiring its distributors not to sell its
goods below a certain price level a plausible and realistic scenario that could happen and be
attractive in a number of situations or do you believe this to be a rather theoretical scenario which
is unlikely to happen or be attractive in practice?
This is a realistic scenario;
This is only a realistic scenario if there are a few big distributors involved who find it in
their collective interest not to compete on price;
This is a rather theoretical scenario;
Don't know.
1
3) Assume that you are a small manufacturer and you sell your goods to various distributors who
resell them to final consumers. What do you think the effect would be if you require your
distributors not to sell the goods to customers resident in the territory of another distributor and
thus only sell to customers in their own territory?
This would allow me to incentivise my distributors to invest more in advertising and
promotion of these goods, which would overall be beneficial for competition and for
consumers;
This would deprive my distributors of an essential way to compete and make my product
less successful and would overall be bad for competition and consumers;
Different from the above, namely the effect would be …………………………………….
Don't know.
4) Do you consider the scenario of a small manufacturer requiring its distributors not to sell into
each others' territories a plausible and realistic scenario that could happen and be attractive in a
number of situations or do you believe this to be a rather theoretical scenario which is unlikely to
happen or be attractive in practice?
This is a realistic scenario;
This is only a realistic scenario if there are a few big distributors involved who find it in
their collective interest not to compete for each others' customers;
This is a rather theoretical scenario;
Don't know.
2
5) If small companies were to be allowed under competition rules to incorporate hardcore
restrictions, such as resale price maintenance and territorial resale restrictions, in their
agreements, how would you prefer small companies to be defined in order to make it a practical
rule?
In terms of having a low market share, such as 5% or 10%;
In terms of turnover and number of employees, such as the definition of SMEs;
Other, namely ……………………………………………………………………..
Don't know.
Questionnaire from Distributors point of view
1) Assume that you are a small distributor and you purchase goods from a manufacturer for the
purpose of reselling them to final consumers. What do you think the effect would be if your
supplier required you and other distributors of the same product not to sell the goods below a
certain price level?
This would allow me and other distributors to invest more in advertising and promotion of
these goods, which would overall be beneficial for competition and for consumers;
This would deprive me of an essential way to compete and gain customers and would
overall be bad for competition and consumers;
Different from the above, namely the effect would be ………………………………….
Don't know
2) Do you consider the scenario of a manufacturer requiring its distributors not to sell its goods
below a certain price level a plausible and realistic scenario that could happen and be attractive in
a number of situations or do you believe this to be a rather theoretical scenario which is unlikely
to happen or be attractive in practice?
This is a realistic scenario;
3
This is only a realistic scenario if the manufacturer is a major player on the market;
This is a rather theoretical scenario;
Don't know.
3) Assume that you are a small distributor and you purchase goods from a manufacturer for the
purpose of reselling them to final consumers. What do you think the effect would be if your
supplier required you and other distributors of the same product not to sell the goods to customers
resident outside each distributor's own territory?
This would allow me and other distributors to invest more in advertising and promotion of
these goods, which would overall be beneficial for competition and for consumers;
This would deprive me of an essential way to compete and gain customers and would
overall be bad for competition and consumers;
Different from the above, namely the effect would be …………………………………..
Don't know
4) Do you consider the scenario of a manufacturer requiring its distributors not to sell into each
others' territories a plausible and realistic scenario that could happen and be attractive in a
number of situations or do you believe this to be a rather theoretical scenario which is unlikely to
happen or be attractive in practice?
This is a realistic scenario;
This is only a realistic scenario if the manufacturer is a major player on the market;
This is a rather theoretical scenario;
Don't know.
4
5) If small companies were to be allowed under competition rules to incorporate hardcore
restrictions, such as resale price maintenance and territorial resale restrictions, in their
agreements, how would you prefer small companies to be defined in order to make it a practical
rule?
In terms of having a low market share, such as 5% or 10%;
In terms of turnover and number of employees, such as the definition of SMEs;
Other, namely ……………………………………………………………………..
Don't know
5