Jérôme Gstalter

Trib. EU, 16 July 2014, Germany v. Commission, Case T-295/12, EU:T:2014:675 ; Trib. EU, 16 July 2014, Zweckverband Tierkörperbeseitigung v Commission, Case T-309/12, EU:T:2014:676 The Zweckverband Tierkörperbeseitigung in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, the district of Rheingau-Taunus and the (...)

Trib. EU, 11 July 2014, DTS Distribuidora de Televisión Digital v Commission, Case T-533/10, EU:T:2014:629; Telefónicade España and Telefónica Móviles España v Commission, Case T-151/11, EU:T:2014:631 By a law of 28 August 2009, Spain amended the definition of the public service remit of the Spanish (...)

Following a complaint lodged on 12 December 2008 by Scheepsbouwkundig Advies- en Rekencentrum (hereinafter ’Sarc’), the Commission, by Decision C(2011) 642 final of 10 May 2011 (NN 68/2010 - Netherlands) adopted at the end of the preliminary examination phase, declared that a licence agreement (...)

The Commission brought an action for failure to fulfil obligations against Italy on the ground, inter alia, that that Member State had not taken, within the prescribed period, all the measures necessary to recover the aid declared unlawful and incompatible by Commission Decisions 2006/323/EC (...)

By six decisions of 11 July 2001, the Commission declared tax aid schemes adopted by three provinces of the Spanish Basque Country (Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa) incompatible with the common market and ordered Spain to recover the aid unlawfully paid under these non-notified schemes. The entities (...)

On 6 March 2013, the Commission initiated a formal investigation procedure with regard to several measures taken by Greece in favour of Larco, in particular a capital increase carried out in 2009 and several guarantees granted between 2008 and 2010. By decision of 27 March 2014, not yet (...)

On 20 February 2014, the European Commission adopted new guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines. These guidelines replace, on the one hand, the Guidelines on the application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EC Treaty and Article 61 of the EEA Agreement to State aid in the aviation sector (...)

Delivered by a Chamber of three judges without an Advocate General’s Opinion following a reference for a preliminary ruling by the German Federal Finance Court (Bundesfinanzhof), the judgment of the Court of 27 February 2014 is nevertheless of some interest. In that case, the Court had to rule (...)

The year 2012 saw a renewed interest by the Commission in public measures in favour of professional football clubs. On 21 March 2012, the Competition Commissioner and the President of UEFA, in a joint statement, underlined the close links between the principles of financial fair play approved (...)

CJEU, ch. gde, 4 December 2013, Commission v. Council, Case C-117/10 CJEU, ch. gde, 4 December 2013, Commission v. Council, Case C-118/10 CJEU, ch. gde, 4 December 2013, Commission v. Council, Case C-121/10 In four judgments delivered on 4 December 2013, the Court of Justice, meeting in (...)

In the field of infrastructure financing, the Commission is not only interested in port or airport infrastructure. In 2013, the Commission has, on the basis of Article 107(3)(c) TFEU, authorised several measures for the financing of multifunctional stadiums or multipurpose complexes (see not., (...)

CJEU, 7 November 2013, Italy v Commission, Case C-587/12 P The two judgments delivered by the Court on 7 November 2013 mark the epilogue of a long dispute. It should be recalled that, in a decision of 19 May 2004, the Commission found that two soft loans granted by the Italian Republic to Wam (...)

In the recent period, the Commission, most often in response to complaints, has had to examine changes in the financing of the pension schemes of former incumbent network operators introduced in several Member States following the privatisation of these operators. While the decisions delivered (...)

By Decision 2011/110/EU of 15 September 2010, the Commission declared that the State aid amounting to €19.5 million which Italy was planning to implement for Fri-El Acerra was incompatible with the internal market. The notified aid measure consisted of an ad hoc regional aid proposed by the (...)

By Decision 2007/492/EC of 25 January 2007, the Commission declared State aid granted by Germany to the Biria Group incompatible with the common market and ordered its recovery. This State aid consisted of three separate measures. The first measure consisted of a silent partnership contribution (...)

By an action brought before the Court of First Instance, Ryanair had contested two decisions taken by the Commission concerning Italian measures relating to the airline Alitalia. The first Commission decision, adopted on 12 November 2008 following a formal procedure, declared that a loan of EUR (...)

In a judgment of 29 September 2011, Ryanair v Commission (T-442/07), the Court of First Instance allowed in part an action for failure to act brought by Ryanair against the Commission. It held that the Commission had failed to fulfil its obligations by failing to adopt a decision on several (...)

The decree of the Flemish Region of 27 March 2009 on land and property policy had attracted attention at the time of its adoption. This decree prevents persons who do not have a "sufficient link" with municipalities designated by the Vlaamse Regering from acquiring land or buildings erected on (...)

CJEU, 21 March 2013, Magdeburger Mühlenwerke, Case C-129/12 By letter dated 20 October 1995, the Commission proposed to the Member States, pursuant to Article 93(1) of the Treaty (now Article 108(1) TFEU), guidelines and appropriate measures concerning State aid for investments in the (...)

CJEU, 24 January 2013, 3F v Commission, Case C-646/11 P The judgment of the Court of First Instance of 27 September 2011, 3F v Commission (T-30/03 RENV), had attracted attention on the ground that it reduced "the indication of serious difficulties which the duration of the preliminary (...)

The ECSC Treaty and the rules adopted for its application expired on 23 July 2002. More than ten years later, the Court of First Instance is still dealing with disputes relating to the application of the ECSC Treaty rules on State aid. In 1971, the Federal Republic of Germany adopted a law to (...)

Les contributeurs à ce dossier « Tendances » se sont vu soumettre une question qui pourrait sembler simple a priori : Les normes ouvertes promeuvent-elle la concurrence ? Cependant, la réponse à cette question requiert un travail préalable et délicat de définition des termes du sujets. Rédigés par des (...)

CA Paris, ch. 5-7, 29 September 2009, Ets A. Mathematics a.o.v. Council, Dec. No. 08-D-12 on practices implemented in the plywood production sector The Thébault company continued to seek the annulment of decision no. 08-D-12 handed down in the plywood case on the grounds that the Competition (...)

EC Commission, com. art. 27, §4 R. 1/2003, Rambus, case COMP/38636, OJ C133, 12 June 2009, p.16, and EC Commission, MEMO/09/273, 12 June 2009 On reading the commitments proposed by Rambus, it can be argued that the European Commission is on the way to realising the vain wish expressed across (...)

This comprehensive Handbook brings together contributions from American, Canadian, European, and Japanese writers to better explore the interface between competition and intellectual property law. Issues range from the fundamental to the specific, each considered from the angle of cartels, (...)

Conc. conc. dec. 08-D-30 of December 4, 2008 relating to practices implemented by the oil companies Shell, Esso SAF, Chevron Global Aviation, Total Outre-Mer and Total Réunion. (on this case, see also note L.N.-V., Chronique Ententes, ConcurrencesNo. 1-2009, No. 2).) In the case concerning (...)

EC Commission, Article 27(4)(R)(1)(2003), E.ON, Wholesale market for electricity in Germany, Case COMP/B-1/39.388; Balancing market for electricity in Germany, Case COMP/B-1/39.389, OJEU, No C. 146 of 12 June 2008, p. 34. EC Commission, MEMO 08/396 of 12 June 2008, Antitrust: Commission market (...)

Conc. conc. dec. no. 08-D-12 of 21 May 2008 on practices in the plywood production sector On 21 May 2008, the Council issued its third decision applying the French leniency programme and granting for the third time to the applicant a total exemption from a fine pursuant to Article L.464-2-IV (...)

Conc. conc. dec. 08-D-12 of 21 May 2008 on practices in the plywood production sector In the context of the plywood case, described elsewhere, the Thébault company reproached the Competition Council for not having informed the European Competition Network pursuant to Article 11 § 3 of Regulation (...)

50 years after the entry into force of the Treaty of Rome, Community competition law seems to have found the "parry" to conscious parallelisms of oligopolistic behaviour. By preventing the emergence of narrow oligopolies through the application of the ex ante system for controlling (...)

The purpose of this book is to examine the experience of a number of countries in grappling with the problems of reconciling the two fields of competition policy and intellectual property rights. The first part of the book indicates the variation in legislative models as well as the wide (...)

Marked in particular by the recent publication of a joint report by the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice, but also by the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in the Microsoft case, the issue of the interaction between competition law and (...)

Licensing of open source software and licensing of «closed source» (proprietary) software are based on different business models and appear to promote innovation in two different ways. Open source licensing favours innovation through dissemination of knowledge and technologies whereas proprietary (...)

In recent years, the price of electricity on the free market has risen in France as much as in our neighbours, while the costs of French production, mainly nuclear, have been only slightly affected by the rise in the price of fossil fuels. How can this apparent paradox be explained? Should we (...)

Shortlisted for the 2008 Young Authors Inner Temple Book Prize Are parallel importers the key to free trade, breaking down long-established national barriers for the benefit of all? Or do they instead just operate in a dubious ’grey market’ for their own profit, free-loading on the investment of (...)

Competition policies. What a vast subject! The scope of the subject is not only spatial but also material. Submitted to the Prime Minister in September 2005, this report is in fact the result of a multidisciplinary approach that involved consulting a number of experts beforehand, but also (...)

This latest monograph by Professor Korah on the recent group exemption consists of a detailed and critical commentary on the technology transfer block exemption and guidelines of 2004, and of the case law of the ECJ and Commission on licensing and refusals to license, together with annotated (...)

Sanctions for anti-competitive practices must be aimed at the efficient enforcement of antitrust law. Both over- and under-deterrence must be combated. Enforcement costs must remain limited. An optimal sanctioning regime requires efficient identification of infringements. The European system (...)

In modern markets innovation is at least as great a concern as price competition. The book discusses how antitrust policy and patent and copyright laws interact to create market dynamics that affect both competition and innovation. Antitrust and intellectual property policies for the most part (...)

The proceedings of a study day held in Paris on 21 September 2004, this collective work is the latest testimony of FNDE’s attachment to the Community competition rules applicable to technology transfer agreements. A comfortable way to report on the debates that took place during this day could (...)

With a view to giving better guidance, DG Competition reviewed its policy on the abuse of dominant position under Article 82. In this context, the Chief Economist of DG Competition has commissioned a report from the EAGCP, which is a group of distinguished academic economist advising DG COMP (...)

The book comes with a CD-Rom and several annexes containing the relevant official texts, with a subtitle that serves as an explanatory memorandum: "Managing a competition investigation in the business world at a time when the fight against cartels is being stepped up". As this title suggests, (...)

The Report on Competition Policy is published annually by the European Commission in response to the request made by the European Parliament in its Resolution of 7 June 1971. The Report, which is annexed to the General Report on the Activities of the European Union, is intended to give an (...)

The electricity sector worldwide is undergoing a fundamental transformation of its institutional structure as a consequence of the complex interactions of political, economic and technological forces. The way the industry is organized is changing from vertically integrated monopolies to (...)

As of May 2004, national competition authorities in EU Members States are empowered to enforce sanctions on infringement of the competition rules laid down in Articles 81 and 82 EC Treaty. As a result, it is crucially important for practitioners to be conversant with the competition law of the (...)

In the context of a subject that has evolved and been profoundly reworked in recent years, Dominique Brault proposes to take a "snapshot" of competition law. In its descriptive aspect of the current state of the subject, the snapshot proves to be successful. The reader will find the most recent (...)