Office of Fair Trading 9
THE RELEVANT GEOGRAPHIC MARKET(S)
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The relevant geographic market comprises the area in which the undertakings concerned are involved in the supply and demand of products or services in which the conditions of competition are sufficiently homogenous and which can be distinguished from neighbouring areas because the conditions of competition are appreciably different in those areas.
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The Applicants have suggested that the relevant geographic market is the UK.
This is not affected by the fact that there is international trade in oil fuels and that isolated markets can exist (for example in
the Highlands and Islands inScotland) because it is unlikely that there will be any market entry or any viable alternative sources of supply from outside the UK and there is,
in general, a chain of supply substitution for oil fuels throughout the UK. The Director has therefore accepted that for the purposes of the analysis in this decision the relevant geographic market is the UK.
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