Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Aftermarkets and EU competition law: Articles 101/102, market definition and lock-in, 2024 guidance, and leading cases

Published by a LexisNexis Competition expert

Practice notes

Aftermarkets

Aftermarkets matter greatly to producers of sophisticated technical equipment and to businesses following a ‘razors and razor blades’ commercial model. Competition concerns in aftermarkets are not limited to a single sector. While many disputes feature the technology industry, similar issues have appeared across a broad range of other fields.

a primary product (eg equipment, hardware or software), and
an aftermarket good or service (eg parts, repair services, or software support)

The decisive arena is the downstream aftermarket, which frequently delivers highly profitable, repeat revenues coveted by proprietary equipment manufacturers as a way to recoup significant research and development spend.

Independent service organisations (ISOs) and other third parties offering rival aftermarket goods or services often clash with manufacturers. Producers may seek to avoid enabling ISO competition, while ISOs operating solely in the aftermarket may view competition from manufacturers as unfair.

For instance, manufacturers may try to withhold from ISOs either aftermarket products (eg spare parts and consumables) or essential tools (eg training diagnostics, engineer control orders, bug fixes or software updates)…

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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