European competition law (in particular, Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty) was enacted several decades ago in an attempt to establish a single internal market within the European Union. In essence, European competition law entails that companies are prohibited from making arrangements that have an unfavourable impact on trade between the member states of the European Union.

Furthermore a company occupying a position of power is prohibited from abusing this position. An example of such abuse could be charging excessively high prices. European competition law has served as the template for the enactment of various types of national competition legislation in each member state of the European Union. The legislation in the Dutch Competition Act (“Mededingingswet”) is the Dutch equivalent.