24Accordingly, Article 102 TFEU must be interpreted as referring not only to practices which may cause damage to consumers directly (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-468/06 to C-478/06 Sot. Lélos kai Sia and Others [2008] ECR I-7139, paragraph 68, and Deutsche Telekom v Commission, paragraph 176), but also to those which are detrimental to them through their impact on competition. Whilst Article 102 TFEU does not prohibit an undertaking from acquiring, on its own merits, the dominant position in a market, and while, a fortiori, a finding that an undertaking has a dominant position is not in itself a ground of criticism of the undertaking concerned (see, to that effect, Case 322/81 Nederlandsche Banden-Industrie-Michelin v Commission [1983] ECR 3461, paragraph 57, and Joined Cases C-395/96 P and C-396/96 P Compagnie maritime belge transports and Others v Commission [2000] ECR I-1365, paragraph 37), it remains the case that, in accordance with settled case-law, an undertaking which holds a dominant position has a special responsibility not to allow its conduct to impair genuine undistorted competition in the internal market (see, to that effect, Case C-202/07 P France Télécom v Commission [2009] ECR I-2369, paragraph 105 and case-law cited).
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