Consumer Autonomy and Vertical Agreements

Johannes Persch examines vertical agreements restricting online sales under EU competition law. He analyses practices like total online bans, platform bans and other restrictions on online sales, their legal classification and economic evaluation and discusses whether consumer autonomy may be an additional pathway to understanding the treatment of such agreements under EU competition law. In this regard, he examines whether consumer autonomy can be a valid normative concern under EU competition law and how consumer autonomy, as a goal of competition law, can be operationalized in the context of vertical agreements.

Introduction
§ 1 Research questions
§ 2 Outline
§ 3 Terminology
§ 4 Basics of behavioural economics
Chapter 1: Treatment of vertical agreements under EU competition law and economic evaluation§ 1 Current assessment of vertical agreements under EU competition law
§ 2 Economic evaluation of the EU's current rules on vertical agreements, particularly on online distribution
§ 3 A comparative perspective: vertical agreements under US law
§ 4 Conclusion
Chapter 2: A different explanation for the EU's stance on vertical agreements: consumer autonomy?
§ 1 Consumer autonomy as an argumentative force behind the EU's approach to vertical agreements
§ 2 Consumer autonomy as a goal of EU competition law
§ 3 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Making autonomy workable in the context of vertical agreements
§ 1 How can vertical agreements influence consumer decisions?
§ 2 When do vertical agreements restrict competition based on consumer autonomy?
§ 3 Implications for EU competition law
§ 4 Conclusion
Summary