Oliver Koch

Yes, we can (prohibit) – The Ryanair/Aer Lingus merger before the Court* I. Introduction In two judgments handed down on 6 July 2010, the General Court upheld the Commission’s June 2007 decision to prohibit the planned merger between Ryanair and Aer Lingus (Case T-342/07) and dismissed Aer (...)

The Commission’s GDF and E.ON Gas decisions concerning long-term capacity bookings - Use of own infrastructure as possible abuse under Article 102 TFEU* I. Introduction The Commission’s commitment decisions of December 2009 and May 2010 in the GDFand E.ON Gas cases dealt with foreclosure (...)

The RWE gas foreclosure case: Another energy network divestiture to address foreclosure concerns* I. Introduction On 18 March 2009 the Commission adopted a commitment decision against RWE AG for suspected infringement of EU competition law. The commitments were offered by RWE to address (...)

"The E.ON seals case - €38 million fine for tampering with Commission seals"* In January 2008, the Commission — making use of its new powers under Article 23(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 for the first time — imposed a fine of EUR 38 million on the German energy company, E.ON (...)

Ryanair/Aer Lingus: Even “low-cost” monopolies can harm consumers* I. Introduction The Ryanair/Aer Linguscase, which concerned a proposed merger of the two leading airlines operating from Ireland, raised a number of interesting procedural, legal and economic questions and required a (...)

"Procter & Gamble/Gillette: the role of economic analysis in Phase I cases"* In July 2005, the European Commission has approved, subject to conditions, the acquisition of Gillette by Procter & Gamble. The merger creates one of the world’s biggest consumer goods producers with a (...)