Nicolas Zacharie

In a decision of September 9, 2020, the French Competition Authority ("the Authority") sanctioned Novartis, Roche and Genentech for abusive practices aimed at safeguarding sales of the drug Lucentis for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration ("AMD") to the detriment of the drug (...)

In a judgment dated June 10, 2020, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) dismissed an appeal against the judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal (the "Court of Appeal"), which had itself confirmed, in a judgment dated October 12, 2017, Decision No. 15-D-10 of June 11, 2015 by which the (...)

In a decision of 30 April 2020, the Competition Authority (the Authority) rejected the substantive referral of the Molotov company (Molotov) and, consequently, the associated request for interim measures filed against the M6 and TF1 groups. Molotov is a platform that broadcasts television (...)

In a decision dated 16 March 2020 (not available at the time of writing; see press release), the Authority fined Apple €1.1 billion for practices concerning the distribution of its products (excluding iPhones) in France. Its wholesalers Tech Data and Ingram Micro were also fined €76.1 million and (...)

In a judgment of 30 January 2020 handed down on a reference for a preliminary ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal of the United Kingdom, the Court of Justice of the European [Union Court of Justice] provides interesting clarifications with regard to both the concept of anti-competitive (...)

In a judgment dated November 14, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal (the "Court of Appeal") annulled the decision of the French Competition Authority ("the Authority") rendered on September 20, 2018 which had sanctioned SANICORSE, jointly and severally with its parent company, SAS Groupe Cesarini, (...)

By a decision of 22 August 2019, the Polynesian Competition Authority (the ’Polynesian Authority’) fined the Wane Group approximately EUR 2 million (235 million Pacific Francs) for abusing its dominant position by imposing excessive prices on its suppliers in order to allow them to benefit from a (...)

By a judgment of 11 July 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal largely confirmed the decision of the Competition Authority (’the Authority’) No 17-D-25 of 20 December 2017 which had sanctioned the Janssen-Cilag laboratory, and its parent company Johnson & Johnson, for first delaying and then (...)

In a decision of 13 May 2019, the European Commission (the "Commission") sanctioned AB InBev to the tune of €200 million for abuse of a dominant position on the Belgian beer market. This decision is interesting in that it concerns conduct intended to hinder parallel imports between Member (...)

In a decision of 17 December 2013, the Authority had condemned EDF for abuse of a dominant position on the market for services to private individuals wishing to become photovoltaic electricity producers (Decision No 13-D-20 of 17 December 2013 concerning practices implemented by EDF in the (...)

By a decision of 16 January 2019, the Competition Authority (the ’Authority’) found that there was no need to continue the proceedings initiated following the referral of the companies Gibovendée and L’Envol de Retz (the ’referrals’). The latter contested the fact that three shipping companies, (...)

In a judgment delivered on 12 December 2018, the Court of First Instance of the European Union (the "Court") sanctioned the European Commission (the "Commission") for having committed a series of errors in its analysis of the definition of the relevant market to which perindopril, an (...)

In a decision issued on 20 September 2018, the French Competition Authority ("the Authority") sanctioned Sanicorse, jointly and severally with its parent company, SAS Groupe Cesarini, for an abuse of a dominant position in the form of excessive prices. Sanicorse is a company active in the (...)

By a decision of 27 June 2018, the Competition Authority (the Authority) found that there was no need to continue the proceedings initiated following the referral by the Econocom Group (Econocom) concerning alleged practices by the IT manufacturers IBM, HP and Oracle in the hardware maintenance (...)

The Competition Authority had fined TDF for having, in the context of France Télévisions’ invitations to tender for the switchover of television broadcasting to digital format (DTT) in the overseas territories, unreasonably delayed hosting bids and for having failed to include certain decisive (...)

In a judgment delivered on 17 May 2018, the Paris Court of Appeal essentially confirmed Decision 16-D-14 on practices in the zinc and zinc products for the building industry (Aut. conc., dec. no. 16-D-14 of 23 June 2016 on practices in the rolled zinc and zinc products for the building (...)

By Decision No 17-D-25 of 20 December 2017, the Competition Authority ("the Authority") sanctioned Janssen-Cilag, and its parent company Johnson & Johnson, to the tune of €25 million for first delaying and then limiting the development of generics of its drug, Durogesic. In so doing, the (...)

In a judgment dated December 18, 2017, the Paris Commercial Court ordered Orange to pay 179 million euros in damages to Bouygues Telecom Caraïbe, a subsidiary of the Bouygues Telecom Group, which was acquired by the Digicel Group ("Bouygues"). This is the largest damages award in the context of (...)

In the sector of online event-driven sales, the Competition Authority ("the Authority") had not hesitated to rely on the shortcomings of the investigation to put an end to proceedings brought by Brandalley, which accused Vente-privée.com of having imposed exclusivity clauses on the major brands (...)

By Decision No 17-D-21 of 9 November 2017, the Competition Authority (the ’Authority’) accepts and makes binding commitments offered by Schneider Electric in the sector of maintenance of medium-voltage (’MV’) and low-voltage (’LV’) electrical distribution equipment. MV and LV electrical distribution (...)

Following a complaint lodged by the European Confederation of Watchmakers’ Repairers’ Associations ("CEAHR") against six luxury watch manufacturers (Swatch, LVMH, Rolex, Richemont, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet), which it accused of an agreement and abuse of a dominant position, the European (...)

In this case, the Société du Figaro accused the Drouot group, and in particular its subsidiary Drouot Enchère, of imposing on voluntary sales operators ("VSOs") the exclusive and mandatory use of the Drouot Live platform for the online retransmission of catalogued sales taking place in the rooms (...)

In a decision dated March 1, 2017, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) dismissed the Amaury group’s appeal against the Paris Court of Appeal’s decision, which had upheld the Competition Authority’s decision against the Amaury group for eviction practices against Le Journal du Sport (CA (...)

In a judgment of 8 February 2017, the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal of Roland Vlaemynck Tisseur against the judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal which had upheld the decision of the Competition Authority rejecting a complaint for an alleged abuse of a dominant position relating to an (...)

In this short but interesting decision, the Competition Authority ("the Authority") sanctions a system of fixed prices set up by the company Obut, active in the production and marketing of leisure and competition petanque balls, from the point of view of an abuse of a dominant position. It (...)

In this case, the company Pétanque Longue, active in the marketing of pétanque equipment and in particular Obut branded boules, contested the implementation by its supplier, the company La Boule Obut, of new pricing conditions for the year 2016. La Boule Obut had sent its resellers, a fortnight (...)

Advocate General Wahl delivered his Opinion on 20 October 2016 in Intel v Commission, whose judgment of the Court of Justice is eagerly awaited, not only because in that case the European Commission had imposed the highest individual fine ever (EUR 1.06 billion) in its decision of 13 May 2009 (...)

This decision will be the subject of a commentary in No. 4-2016 of this review. Concurrences.

In the field of online event-driven sales, the Competition Authority ("the Authority") had not hesitated to rely on the shortcomings of the investigation in order to terminate a procedure (Aut. conc., Dec. No. 14-D-18 of 28 Nov. 2014 on practices in the field of online event-driven sales, comm. (...)

Swiss Post has a number of companies, including Mediapost, which specializes in the distribution of advertising leaflets in letterboxes. Two of its competitors, Imperial Pub and Gps had brought actions against La Poste and Mediapost before the Paris Commercial Court seeking compensation for (...)

The Competition Authority had been referred to it by the company Celtipharm, which accused the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie des Travailleurs Salariés (the "CNAMTS") and GIE SESAM-Vitale (the "GIE") of having refused it access to an essential infrastructure, namely real-time access to the (...)

Following an investigation by the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir and two reports by the IGAS and the Court of Auditors, the Authority is examining the competitive situation in the hearing aid sector. The French market is in fact characterised by a lower rate of fitting than neighbouring (...)

The company E-Kanopi (E-Kanopi), which operates several websites, has "Adwords" and "AdSense" accounts opened with Google in order to use the latter’s online advertising services. Google had suspended those accounts for a period of time because of non-compliance with its general terms and (...)

The French Competition Authority ("the Authority") has once again sanctioned TDF, a company specialising in the broadcasting of audiovisual services and former holder of the monopoly on radio and television broadcasting, in a case involving the eviction of a competitor when renewing concessions (...)

In a decision dated May 15, 2015, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld in its entirety the decision of the French Competition Authority which had sanctioned the Amaury group for practices of eviction against the company Le Journal du Sport (decision no. 14-D-02 of February 20, 2014 relating to (...)

The decision of the Paris Commercial Court (the "Court") of 30 March 2015 is part of the so-called follow-up civil actions, initiated by plaintiffs who consider themselves victims of anti-competitive practices, following decisions adopted by the French Competition Authority (the "Authority"). (...)

CA Paris, Feb. 26, 2015, ECMA The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the decision of the Competition Authority which had sanctioned the Order of Chartered Accountants and the ECMA association, created by the latter to market the accounting and tax declaration portal "jedeclare.com", in the sector (...)

Decision No. 15-D-01 of 5 Feb. 2015 on practices in the sector of over-the-air television broadcasting in overseas territories. The French Competition Authority ("the Authority") has shown on numerous occasions that it ensures compliance with competition law in the overseas territories and (...)

The Competition Authority ("the Authority") is issuing a new decision on the borderline between public law and competition law, following a referral by Nautech, a company active in ship repair, and more particularly in the repair of large and very large pleasure craft (over 40 metres in (...)

The Competition Authority had been seized by the company Celtipharm, which accused the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie des Travailleurs Salariés (the "CNAMTS") and GIE SESAM-Vitale (the "GIE") of having refused it access to an essential infrastructure, namely real-time access to the data (...)

If the respect of competition law in the funeral market raised interesting questions in its time, it is the obituary publication sector that is now the subject of a ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal (the "Court"), handed down on appeal from a judgment of the Lyon Commercial Court of 30 April (...)

The Competition Authority ("the Authority") has just issued a new decision on abusive disparagement, imposing a fine of €1.67 million on Société Nouvelle des Yaourts de Littée ("SNYL"). SNYL is active in the dairy production sector. Established in Martinique, it manufactures in particular (...)

The company E-Kanopi ("E-Kanopi"), which operates several websites, has "Adwords" and "AdSense" accounts opened with Google in order to use the latter’s online advertising services. Google had suspended those accounts for a period of time due to non-compliance with its general terms and (...)

The judgment of the Court of First Instance in the Intel case was eagerly awaited. Not only had this case led the European Commission (the "Commission") to impose the highest individual fine ever imposed (EUR 1.06 billion) in its decision of 13 May 2009 (EC Commission, Dec. C(2009) 3726 final (...)

By a judgment of 27 February 2014, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed in its entirety Decision 12-D-21 of 18 October 2012 issued by the French Competition Authority ("the Authority") (Aut. conc., 18 October 2012, dec. no. 12-D-21 relating to practices identified in the baggage delivery sector (...)

The decision of the Competition Authority (hereinafter ’the Authority’) of 20 February 2014 concerning daily sports newspapers provides an interesting example of exclusionary abuse based on economically non-rational behaviour, i.e. giving rise to a financial sacrifice going beyond the usual (...)

In a decision of 6 April 2012, the Competition Authority (’the Authority’) partially dismissed the complaint of Roland Vlaemynck Tisseur (’RVT’) against Mewa (’Mewa’) and postponed the investigation of a possible de facto exclusivity (’Aut. conc, Dec. No 12-D-11 of 6 April 2012 concerning a referral (...)

With the publication on the same day of a decision and an opinion, the Competition Authority (the "Authority") closes a rich year for the pharmaceutical sector in 2013. The European Commission adopted two decisions (not yet published) on pay-for-delay in the Lundbeckcases of 19 June 2013. (...)

In a decision of 6 April 2012, the Competition Authority had partially dismissed the case by rejecting the complaint of Roland Vlaemynck Tisseur (’RVT’) against Mewa (’Mewa’) and by referring the examination of a possible de facto exclusivity to the investigation (see Aut. conc, Dec. No. 12-D-11 of (...)

The Messageries lyonnaises de presse (MLP) had referred the matter to the Authority to challenge certain decisions adopted by the Conseil supérieur des messageries de presse (CSMP). The MLP also accused Presstalis, another press messaging company, of several anti-competitive practices. This (...)

Following a complaint lodged by the Fédération nationale des associations de gestion agréées ("FNAGA") concerning practices implemented in the sector of the remote transmission of accounting and tax data from enterprises and the liberal professions to the tax authorities, the Competition Authority (...)

(see also, "Agreements" column, this issue, obs. N. Jalabert Doury) The union of branded opticians (SynOpE) and the companies Optiswiss and Balou Holding, both active in the manufacture and distribution of optical products, had referred to the Competition Authority practices implemented by the (...)

The company E-Kanopi, which operates several websites, has "Adwords" and "AdSense" accounts opened with Google in order to use the latter’s services in terms of online advertising. Google had suspended those accounts for a time because of non-compliance with its general terms and conditions and (...)

The Competition Authority (the "Authority") recalls, under the terms of its Decision No 13-D-08 of 15 April 2013, that competition law is not intended to give small businesses complete freedom to establish themselves as partners of dominant companies. In this case, the Centr’Halles company held (...)

Aut. conc. dec. no. 12-D-29 of 21 December 2012 relating to practices identified in the sector of distribution of supplementary insurance for golf players By a decision accepting commitments, the Competition Authority closes a new case combining a public service remit and separate economic (...)

CJEU, 6 December 2012, AstraZeneca AB and AstraZeneca plc v Commission, C-457/10 P The judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 December 2012 brings to a close the judicial saga relating to the decision of the European Commission (the "Commission") which for the first time sanctioned the misuse (...)

Aut. conc., 18.10.12, Dec. No. 12-D-21 relating to practices noted in the baggage delivery sector at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. The Competition Authority has decided on its competence to examine certain practices of Aéroports de Paris (ADP). In this case, the complainant was a newly (...)

ECN Subgroup Food, ECN Activities in the food sector, Report on competition law enforcement and market monitoring activities by European competition authorities in the food sector, May 2012 It was recently noted in this column that the competition situation in the food distribution sector was (...)

Aut. conc. dec. no. 12-D-11 of 6 April 2012 concerning a referral by Roland Vlaemynck Tisseur against practices implemented in the sector of manufacturing and marketing of industrial towels The Competition Authority (hereinafter the ’Authority’) reminds us, in its Decision No 12-D-11 of 6 April (...)

Concordant Aut. dec. no. 11-D-08 of April 27, 2011 relating to practices implemented by Accentiv’Kadeos (See also, "Agreements" column, supra, obs. N. Jalabert-Doury) For once, we will comment in this column on a decision applying Article L.420 1 of the Commercial Code in a case where the (...)

The decision of the European Commission (the "Commission") of 15 June 2005 in the AstraZeneca case (Commission, 15 June 2005, AstraZeneca, Case 37.507) was one of the first cases in the field of pharmaceuticals dealing with the commercial policy of a laboratory holding an originator product in (...)

European Parliament, Declaration on the need to investigate and remedy abuses of power by large supermarkets established in the European Union, P6_TA(2008)0054, OJEU No C. 184E of 6 August 2009, p. 23. During the month of August, a "Declaration of the European Parliament on the need to (...)

Aut. conc. dec. no. 09-D-28 of 31 July 2009 relating to practices of Janssen-Cilag France in the pharmaceutical sector The Commission’s sector inquiry, which is still very much in the public eye, ended with the publication of a report on 8 July (Final Report of the Commission available on its (...)

ECJ, 16 September 2008, Sot. Lélos kai Sia EE a.o. v. GlaxoSmithKline AEVE Farmakeftikon Proïonton, case C-468/06 to C-478/06 A solution reached by the Court of Justice which satisfies all parties involved deserves a detailed description. In the present case, wholesalers are confirmed in the (...)