What conditions can be considered discriminating? Is the discrimination always illegal? The author considers the situations where the provision of unequal terms for economic entities does not lead to restriction of competition and, on the contrary, when imposing the same terms may reduce the level of competition and consumer welfare.
The author reviews the situations where price discrimination may lead to increased consumer welfare and economic efficiency, concluding that talking about discrimination as a purely illegal phenomenon basing only on the method of formal equality (symmetry) would be unreasonable. Discrimination can have either negative or positive character and should be evaluated comprehensively.