Muriel Chagny

Law No. 2018-670 of July 30, 2018, transposing into French law the Directive of June 8, 2016 (EU Directive 2016/943 of June 8, 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and commercial information against unlawful obtaining, use and disclosure), has undoubtedly marked a decisive step on the (...)

There is still abuse (but still no economic dependence)! This could be in substance the summary of the judgment by which the Commercial Court, on 10 January 2021, once again punished an abuse of a dominant position committed by the publisher of a well-known search engine and operator of an (...)

A conversation with : Thierry Boillot Director of Competition, AFEC - AFJE, Paris Muriel Chagny Professor, University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Paris-Saclay) and President, AFEC, Paris Jacques Derenne Partner, Sheppard Mullin, Brussels and Professor, University of Liège Frédéric (...)

There is no need to establish the anti-competitive practice; it must be proved that it is the direct cause of the damage for which compensation is sought! Decision after decision (see, for example, Paris ch. 5-4, 6 March 2019, RG no. 2014072974), it is confirmed that the causal link, a (...)

In this interview, Jacqueline Riffault-Silk talks about her career in the French judiciary. In particular, she reviews her experience at the Paris Court of Appeal and the French Civil Supreme Court. She also discusses the role of the French judge in the context of European construction, (...)

While the reform of the ordinary law of civil liability has been slow to take shape at the legislative level, the judicial courts and, first and foremost, the Court of Cassation have not hesitated to make certain advances which contribute to the attractiveness of French law and the French legal (...)

Thejudgment of 29 January 2020 (No 17-15156)The decision of the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation to dismiss the appeal brought by the French incumbent railway operator marks the epilogue of a case that is more than ten years old. In its decision of 5 February 2009, the French (...)

It is an understatement to say that thejudgment handed down by Chamber 5-4 of the Paris Court of Appeal on 27 September 2017 (No. 16-00671)...had been noticed. Referring to the principle of strict interpretation, to be upheld because of the possibility of high civil fines, this decision showed (...)

It is an understatement to say that theruling handed down by the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation on 20 November 2019 (No. 18-12.823)This was expected to be the main focus of the Bulletin. According to its letter itself, unchanged on this point by the Order of 24 April 2019, the (...)

Decision after decision, it is confirmed that the statute of limitations is at the heart of many cases relating to compensation litigation for anti-competitive practices, constituting, when it has played a role, a radical obstacle to the exercise of the action for compensation. The judgment (...)

Who can still say that the French compensation litigation for anti-competitive practices has been reduced to a mere pittance? Three decisions respectively delivered by three different courts, the Tribunal de grande instance de Rennes, on 7 October 2019 (TGI Rennes, 2nd ch. civ., 7 October (...)

Three years after the introduction of the settlement procedure into the tools available to the Competition Authority, the Authority was able to witness the success and the very strong development of this procedure, with companies increasingly soliciting its application. Before the adoption of (...)

Un arrêt Coty chasse l’autre… À vrai dire, l’arrêt Coty rendu, le 28 février 2018, par la Cour d’appel de Paris, plutôt que de chasser l’arrêt préjudiciel éponyme du 6 décembre 2017, s’inscrit dans son prolongement. La Cour de justice y avait répondu aux interrogations soulevées par une juridiction allemande (...)

There is no doubt that the judgment handed down on 22 February 2018 - The decision of the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (5e ch., 2e sect., RG n° 15/09129) - will be variously appreciated according to its readers: companies that have made, or are likely to make, the choice to enter into a (...)

Although Chamber 5-4 of the Paris Court of Appeal is specifically in charge of private competition litigation and, in particular, the judicial implementation of anti-competitive practices law, it nevertheless has the possibility of resorting to the ordinary law of obligations, as shown by (...)

L’Paris Court of Appeal decision of May 10, 2017 (Paris, Pôle 5 - Chambre 4, 10 May 2017, RG 15/05918
), will it mark the epilogue to the competitive turmoil that the incumbent telecommunications operator and its subsidiary operating in the Caribbean region will have had to endure? This cannot be (...)

It is an understatement to say that the order and decree published today in the Official Journal (Ordinance No. 2017-303 of 9 March 2017 relating to actions for damages due to practices; Decree No. 2017-305 of 9 March 2017 relating to actions for damages due to anti-competitive practices) were (...)

There’s no doubt that thejudgment handed down by the Paris Court of Appeal on February 22, 2017, in a case opposing a temporary employment agency to a company claiming in summary proceedings before the Commercial Court of Nanterre, the payment of several invoices will hold the interest of (...)

The third edition of “Entretiens de la concurrence”, focusing on the new economic and legal opportunities before ordinary courts, aimed to emphasise on the specific nature and assets of those jurisdictions in competition law. Having to implement competition law rules in a globalized economy, the (...)

Ruling after ruling, the Court of Cassation draws the outlines of the rule in Article L. 442-6-I-2° of the Commercial Code, which - need we remind you? - apprehends the fact of "subjecting or attempting to subject a trading partner to obligations creating a significant imbalance in the rights (...)

Who will say that the rule on significant imbalance and, more broadly, Article L. 442-6 of the Commercial Code, which apprehends (too many?) numerous practices restricting competition, hardly prosper outside of the relations between mass distribution and its suppliers? Certainly not the online (...)

The rule relating to the abrupt termination of established commercial relations is still undergoing legal developments, confirming decision after decision the success in litigation of Article L. 442-6-I-5° of the Commercial Code, introduced into French law by the Act of 1 July 1996. In a stop (...)

Thejudgment handed down on 19 October 2016 by the Paris Court of Appeal, seized by a trader who had unsuccessfully applied for integration into a qualitative selective distribution network set up by a manufacturer of prestige watchmaking products, will undoubtedly attract attention. This is all (...)

A proposed parliamentary bill suggests a reworded version of the abuse of economic dependence in order to increase the effectiveness of this rule. The suggested changes, however, do not really convince. Beyond that, he question arises as to whether the time may not have come to reform French (...)

Published in the Bulletin, the decision handed down on 27 May 2015 by the Court of Cassation (Cass. com., 27 May 2015, No. 14-11387, Galec, France).), constitutes, after the two judgments of 3 March 2015 (Cass. com., 3 March 2015, No. 14-10.907, Provera France and No. 13-27.525 Eurochan), a new (...)

Barely more than a year after the Hamon Law of 17 March 2014 (see M. Chagny, "Le droit de la concurrence s’invite dans le droit de la consommation", RTD com. 2014, p. 67), the French legislature is preparing to amend, once again, French law on practices restricting competition. These not (...)

Nat. ass. 19 February 2015, Bill for growth, activity and equal economic opportunities, adopted in first reading by the National Assembly, doc. AN n° 473 While the initial bill presented by the Minister of the Economy did not return to the law on restrictive practices of competition, which had (...)

This foreword is an In Memoriam of Mr. Claude Lucas de Leyssac. On January 9, a free and pioneering spirit left us, leaving his friends distraught and the law of the market, orphaned by one of its creators. Claude Lucas de Leyssac was undeniably a forerunner. Thus he defended the idea of a (...)

Over time and in the course of disputes, the contours of Article L. 442-6-I-2° of the Commercial Code have been clarified, which deals with "the fact of subjecting or attempting to subject a trading partner to obligations that create a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of the (...)

Interview conducted by Muriel Chagny, University Versailles-Saint-Quentin en Yvelines. 1. The court over which you preside has just held its first Competition Forum on 12 September 2014. What were the objectives? What were the lessons learned? Over the last 10 years, the decisions of the (...)

The Directive on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union will request, two years after the date of its entry into force at the latest, transposition measures implying (...)

Trib. com. Paris, 1st ch. A, 20 May 2014, RG n° 2013070793 Contractually deviating from the significant imbalance rule (n’) is (not) a significant imbalance. This is essentially the double lesson that emerges from the judgment handed down by the Paris Commercial Court on 20 May 2014, concerning (...)

CA Paris, 13 February 2014, No. 12/09668, Vivien Fret c/ Poitou Boissons Although Article L. 442-6-I-5° of the Commercial Code clearly requires that the termination of an established commercial relationship must be effected by giving prior notice "taking into account the duration of the (...)

Even if the Block exemption and the guidelines on vertical restraints seem to deal only with market protection, these provisions protect also distribution networks, more against third competitors than against their members. As for the economic actors, their protection is undoubtedly sacrificed (...)

In the quest for effectiveness, the New Economic Regulations Act No. 2001-420 of 15 May 2001 conferred on the Minister of the Economy several new prerogatives designed, depending on the case, to enable him to act in the victim’s place (action for nullity, repetition and compensation) or to seek (...)

Once again, it was in a context of collective proceedings that finally led to the judicial liquidation of the supplier that the Court of Cassation had to rule on 24 September 2013, in a decision that, although not published in the Bulletin, is nonetheless worthy of interest. Even if the (...)

Rendered in the summer period, on July 9, 2013 to be exact, the ruling handed down by the Court of Cassation deserves to hold the attention of the reader, who is sometimes a little disoriented in the face of the abundance of litigation generated by Article L. 442-6-I-5° of the Commercial Code (...)

If it were necessary to show that the specialisation of the courts called upon to apply Article L. 442-6 of the Commercial Code, instituted by the LME of 4 August 2008 and specified by the decree of 11 November 2009, is barely enforceable, the ruling handed down by the Lyon Court of Appeal on (...)

Commission Green Paper on unfair commercial practices in the business-to-business food and non-food supply chain in Europe, COM (2013) 37 final, 31 March 2013 Will there be a European law on "practices restricting competition"? This is the question that can be asked on reading the consultation (...)

Cass. com, October 9, 2012, n° 11-19833, Angledis After the Constitutional Council in 2011 and the European Court of Human Rights in 2012, the controversial action brought against the Minister of the Economy by Article L. 442-6-III of the Commercial Code was once again referred to the Court of (...)

CA Paris, Pôle 5 - ch. 5, 04.10.12, no. 11-12684, TAF v. Coup de pâtes The head of a specialised distribution network had concluded tripartite contracts for a period of six months with a transport company, with which it negotiated on behalf and for the account of its suppliers the transport (...)

After entrusting a land transport company with the task of transporting its production to several European countries, a manufacturer of spare parts for the automotive industry, two years later, gradually reduced the volume of its orders and then ceased all relations seven months later. The (...)

It is not uncommon for the perpetrator of a breach of contract sued by the rejected partner to plead one or more contractual breaches committed by the latter in order to contest having abruptly terminated, in contravention of Article L. 442-6-I-5° of the Commercial Code, the established (...)

Cass. com. 12.06.12, Eurochan v. Panda Trade, No 11-18852 "The contract, nothing but the contract!" This could be summed up in the judgment of 12 June 2012 in which the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal brought by a referral centre which, ordered to pay damages for the abrupt termination (...)

After the judgment of cassation delivered by the Commercial Chamber on 27 April 2011 (Cass. com., 27 April 2011, No. 10-13690), we awaited with interest the solution adopted by the referring Court of Appeal in the dispute between a major retailer and the Minister for the Economy alleging that (...)

Special protection, degraded protection? This is how the consequences of the solution set out by the Commercial Chamber in its ruling of 3 April 2012, which is due to be published in the Bulletin des arrêts de la Cour de cassation, could be summarised. Following the termination of the (...)

How were the courts called upon to implement Article L. 442-6-I-2° of the Commercial Code going to interpret this rule which, clearly inspired by the consumer protection system against unfair terms, appears likely, because of its generality, to exert a strong influence on business contracts? (...)

A pharmacist who had obtained, more than a year after his application and after taking legal action, the signature of a selective distribution contract with a manufacturer of dermo-cosmetic products had learned - less than a month after obtaining approval! - that the latter was terminating the (...)

ECHR, 5th section, 17 January 2012, GALEC v. France, No. 51255/08 Does the ruling handed down by the European Court of Human Rights on 17 January 2012 mark the epilogue to the judicial saga of Article L. 442-6-III, paragraph 2 of the Commercial Code? As laconic as it is controversial, this (...)

Significant imbalance is not discrimination! This is essentially the major lesson that emerges from the decision handed down by the Versailles Court of Appeal on 27 October 2011 in a dispute between a wholesaler and a manufacturer of computer products. Shortly after the law on the modernisation (...)

Information report tabled by the Economic Affairs Committee on the implementation of Law No. 2008-776 of 4 August 2008 on modernisation of the economy and presented by Mrs C. Vautrin and Mr J. Gaubert, Doc. AN 3322, 6 April 2011 One hundred times on the job, let’s (not) put our work back! This (...)

Cons. const. dec. no. 2010-126 QPC of May 13, 2011, System U Four months to the day after its decision affirming the conformity of the rule on significant imbalance with the principle of legality of crimes and penalties (Cons. const., dec. no. 2010-85, QPC of January 13, 2011, Établissements (...)

The papers gathered in this section devoted to significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations study, not only the rule in itself from a theoretical and practical point of view and the consequences of the French Constitutional Court’s decision, but also in its links with other French (...)

Barely more than a year after a previous decision, currently under appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (Nîmes, 25 February 2010, Concurrences No. 4-2010, p. 146, obs. M. Chagny), the Nîmes Court of Appeal is once again called upon to rule, on the initiative of the Minister of the Economy, on (...)

A few days after the decision of the Constitutional Council admitting that Article L. 442-6-I 2° of the Commercial Code, resulting from the law on the modernisation of the economy, respects the principle of legality of offences and penalties (Cons. constit. 13 January 2011, ConcurrencesNo. (...)

This article reproduces the opening papers delivered at the AFEC conference on contractual practices and competition law in Paris on October 25, 2010. According to the Professor Chagny, the examination of the links between contractual practices and competition law lato sensu reveals (...)

Was it necessary to adopt, for Article L. 442-6 of the Commercial Code, the same measure of specialisation of jurisdictions as that previously adopted for the law on anti-competitive practices? Beyond the questions that this choice may raise in principle, it should be noted here that the (...)

The European Commission has revised the Vertical Restraints Block Exemption Regulation and accompanying Guidelines, which were 10 years old, and adopted the new Regulation 330/2010 of 20 April 2010 and its Guidelines of 19 May 2010. These new texts take into account the development of the (...)

One arbitral award, two appeal decisions and two judgments of cassation: this is the latest in a long-running dispute that has been pitting a food distribution franchisor against franchisees who have terminated the contractual relationship before the end of the term for almost ten years, and (...)

ECCP, Recommendation No. 10-01 of 3 June 2010 on the drawing up of private label contracts. While the activity of the Commission d’examen des pratiques commerciales has intensified over the years (see lastly, Annual Activity Report, Year 2009-2010), the adoption by the Commission of general (...)

CA Nîmes, 2nd ch. B, 25 February 2010, Minister of the Economy c/ SAS Carrefour France, RG 07/00606 Whereas the new article L. 442-6-I-2° C. Com. prohibiting significant imbalance focuses attention, pending the decisions to be taken following the assignments introduced on this basis by the (...)

Introductory remarks Laurence Idot Professor, Universtité Paris II, European College Director of the Scientific Committee of Concurrences 1. Mr President of the Commercial Court, Ladies and Gentlemen. Today is a first, and I am pleased about it. It is indeed the first time that an AFEC (...)

What application was the judicial judge going to make of the new Article L. 442-6-I-2° introduced into the Commercial Code by the Law on modernisation of the economy of 4 August 2008, with a view to reinforcing the arsenal of provisions designed to control possible abuses in business relations? (...)

Article L. 442-6-I-2° a) C. Com. - which became, after renumbered by the LME, but without any change in wording, Article L. 442-6-I-1° - refers to the fact of "obtaining or attempting to obtain from a commercial partner any advantage whatsoever which does not correspond to any commercial service (...)

Introductory remarks Laurence Idot Professor, Universtité Paris II, European College Director of the Scientific Committee of Concurrences Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, As the afternoon is busy, I will not go into the substance of the colloquium, but on behalf of AFEC (...)

INTRODUCTORY WORDS Jean-Patrice DE LAURENCIE Counsel to the Court I. Brief presentation of the law 1. Law No. 2008-3 of 3 January 2008 "for the development of competition in the service of consumers’ (OJ of 4 January 2008, p. 258), already The Chatel law, known as the "Chatel law", has two (...)

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