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| 80. | In order to define the relevant market, the Commission may also request internal documents from relevant entities, including in particular the undertaking(s) involved. Internal documents are particularly relevant where these have been prepared in the ordinary course of business, as opposed to documents prepared in view of or during the Commission’s investigation, as they may better reflect how these undertakings view the market. This may include marketing studies that undertakings have commissioned in the past to inform decisions about, for example, the pricing of their products or marketing actions. Customer surveys on usage patterns and attitudes, data on customer purchasing patterns, the views expressed by suppliers and market research studies submitted by the undertaking(s) involved and their competitors may be taken into account to establish whether an economically significant proportion of customers considers two products as substitutable. Evidence showing that an undertaking monitors the behaviour of certain competitors, or strategic documents relied on by the undertaking to inform business decisions, such as business plans or assessments of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats, may also indicate the strength of competitive constraints exercised by various rival undertakings (106). Factors relating to the context of individual documents should be taken into account to assess their relevance. These include the documents’ date, the identity of authors and potential addressees (such as their function, expertise and/or seniority), and the purpose of the documents.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.