The three largest manufacturers of solar-driven kilns are W, X and Y. W is established in the United States of America, X in Sweden and Y in Poland.

The Marketing Directors of Delft, W, X and Y attended a kiln manufacturers' convention in Copenhagen in August 2020. Two weeks later the companies all raised their prices of solar-driven kilns by the same percentage.

You are an official working at the European Commission in the Directorate-General for Competition. You have been tracking pricing patterns in the potting/porcelain industry for some time. You have noticed that the four companies tend to raise their prices by similar amounts every six months. In addition, you have noticed that over the past two years the prices charged for solar-driven kiln components have been very high. The solar-driven kilns' manufacturers are finding it hard to compete with manufacturers of traditional gas-fired kilns.

(c) Applying European Union competition law, what are the possible legal consequences of such pricing behavior?

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Under European Union competition law there are two main aspects that could potentially be relevant t... View the full answer