Chapter 2: Substantive Provisions
Section 1: Unlawful Restraints of Competition
< Art. 4 Definitions
> Art. 6 Categories of agreements affecting competition that are deemed justified
Art. 5 Unlawful agreements affecting competition
1 Agreements that significantly restrict competition in a market for specific goods or services and are not justified on grounds of economic efficiency, and all agreements that eliminate effective competition are unlawful.
2 Agreements affecting competition are deemed to be justified on grounds of economic efficiency if:
- a.
- they are necessary in order to reduce production or distribution costs, improve products or production processes, promote research into or dissemination of technical or professional know-how, or exploit resources more rationally; and
- b.
- they will under no circumstances enable the parties involved to eliminate effective competition.
3 The following agreements between actual or potential competitors are presumed to lead to the elimination of effective competition:
- a.
- agreements to directly or indirectly fix prices;
- b.
- agreements to limit the quantities of goods or services to be produced, purchased or supplied;
- c.
- agreements to allocate markets geographically or according to trading partners.
4 The elimination of effective competition is also presumed in the case of agreements between undertakings at different levels of the production and distribution chain regarding fixed or minimum prices, and in the case of agreements contained in distribution contracts regarding the allocation of territories to the extent that sales by other distributors into these territories are not permitted.1
1 Inserted by No. I of the Federal Act of 20 June 2003, in force since 1 April 2004 (AS 2004 1385 1390; BBl 2002 2022 5506).
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.