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European Commission calls for evidence in relation to Territorial Supply Constraints

On 5 March 2026, the Commission published a call for evidence inviting stakeholders to provide input to guide EU action against territorial supply constraints (“TSCs”). The deadline for submissions is 2 April 2026, with the Commission planning to adopt a decision by Q4 2026.

TSCs are practices that restrict the sourcing or resale of products outside of given territories, with the purpose of effectively preventing parallel trade. TSCs are particularly prevalent in the daily consumer goods sector where manufacturers are often accused of applying restrictions that prevent a product sourced from one Member State (where it is cheaper) from being sold in another. In this context, TSCs often take the form of packaging and labelling differentiation, wholesale price differentiation and refusal to supply. Accordingly, TSCs seek to prevent the influx of cheaper goods into given markets and result in market segmentation which is incompatible with key objectives of EU integration and the Single Market. As previously reported, TSCs have been designated as one of the “Terrible Ten” most harmful practices to the functioning of the internal market in the Commission’s 2025 single market strategy .

While EU competition and free movement rules address TSCs to an extent, there are no EU measures that specifically target such harmful practices. In particular, practices put into effect unilaterally by undertakings that do not have a dominant position in a relevant market are not currently caught by competition rules. Consequently, various calls for regulatory intervention have been made in recent years, including by the Council of the European Union in September 2025. Industry pressure for reform has also been consistent, including very recently by way of  a joint statement by retail and wholesale association Eurocommerce and consumer association BEUC, published on 6 March 2026, which reiterated the impact of TSCs on both retailers and consumers and demanded swift legislative action.

The Commission’s recent call for evidence aims to close any possible enforcement gap by tackling unjustified TSCs not covered by competition law. It is specifically focussed on TSCs imposed by manufacturers of daily consumer goods given their serious impact on European consumers.

The Commission outlines several possible modes of intervention: 

  • “Softer” tools such as self-regulatory action (codes of conduct) or additional guidance for market operators and national authorities; or
  • Legislative intervention, which could either (i) build on the concept of economic dependence, to address TSCs resulting from unilateral decisions by non-dominant undertakings; or (ii) identify prohibited practices and potential justifications.

The call for evidence can be accessed here and will be open until 2 April 2026. A public consultation will follow, expected to open in Q2 2026 for a duration of 12 weeks. It is open to all interested parties and stakeholders to submit comments to the Commission for consideration.