Unbundling

Unbundling in the European Union Law

Concept of Unbundling provided by the “Glossary of terms used in EU competition policy” (Antitrust and control of concentrations, published in 2002): Separation of the various components of production, distribution and service in order to introduce greater elements of competition to these segments of an industry. 'Functional unbundling' requires monopolis-tic utilities to provide access to (part of) their distribution or service network, in exchange for an access fee. 'Structural unbundling' makes complete vertical separation necessary and obliges monopolistic util-ities to divest their production, their distribution or their service assets.