Consumer Autonomy and Vertical Agreements: An Additional Pathway to Understanding EU Competition Law on Vertical Agreements, in Particular Online Sales Restrictions

English summary: 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. German description: Johannes Persch untersucht, wie das EU-Wettbewerbsrecht Einschrankungen des Online-Vertriebs in vertikalen Vereinbarungen behandelt. Dabei analysiert er deren rechtliche und wirtschaftliche Auswirkungen und geht der Frage nach, ob das Konzept der Verbraucherautonomie einen sinnvollen Rahmen fur das Verstandnis und die Bewertung solcher Praktiken bietet.