Richard Burton

Euro interest rate derivatives cartel case On 24 September 2019, the General Court issued a judgment on an appeal lodged by HSBC against the European Commission’s (the “Commission”) decision fining HSBC € 33.6 million for its involvement in the Euro Interest Rate Derivatives cartel case (Case (...)

On 24 September 2019, the General Court dismissed the appeal lodged by Printeos (previously known as Tompla) against the re-adopted European Commission (“Commission”) decision in the Paper Envelopes cartel case (Case T-466/17, Printeos v. Commission). By way of background, the Commission (...)

On 1 August 2019, the Portuguese competition authority (Autoridade da Concorrência, “AdC”) published a press release in which it announced that it had imposed total fines of € 42 million on two insurance companies (Lusitania and Zürich), two board members and two directors for, inter alia, (...)

On 10 July 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “ECJ”) delivered a judgment on an appeal lodged by the European Commission (the “Commission”) against the judgment of the General Court (the “GC”) that had annulled the fines imposed by the Commission on ICAP in the Yen Interest Rate (...)

On 8 July 2019, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) imposed a fine of € 1.7 million on the cooperative Back Europ for having partitioned the French market for the distribution of raw materials and equipment to bakers for 30 years. Back Europ is a cooperative that operates in the market (...)

On 4 July 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted for the third time a cartel decision in which it imposed total fines of more than € 16 million on five Italian manufacturers of reinforcing steel bars for concrete, namely AlfaAcciai, Feralpi Holding, Ferriere Nord, Partecipazioni (...)

On 20 June 2019, the Rotterdam District Court (“Court”) annulled a fine of € 583,000 imposed by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (“Autoriteit Consument & Markt” or “ACM”) on Midac, a manufacturer of batteries for forklift trucks, for its involvement in a cartel. The Court held that (...)

On 23 May 2019, the General Court delivered a judgment in which it dismissed the appeal lodged by Recylex against the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision in the car battery recycling cartel case (Case T-222/17, Recylex and Others v. Commission). In February 2017, the Commission imposed (...)

On 16 May 2019, the European Commission adopted two decisions under its cartel settlement procedure, in which it imposed fines totalling € 1.07 billion on five banks for their involvement in two separate cartels on the spot foreign exchange markets for eleven currencies. The banks involved in (...)

On 8 May 2019, the Markets Court of the Brussels Court of Appeal rejected as inadmissible the appeal lodged by The Great Circle against the decision of the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) to reject its request for interim measures against the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (...)

On 28 March 2019, the General Court (“GC”) delivered a judgment on an appeal lodged by Pometon against the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision in the Steel Abrasives cartel case (Case T-433/16, Pometon SA v. Commission). In April 2014, the Commission imposed fines totalling over € 30 (...)

On 14 March 2019, the Spanish competition authority (“CNMC”) imposed fines totalling € 118 million on fifteen companies, namely Cobra, Elecnor, Siemens, Semi, Inabensa, Alstom, Cymi, Isolux, Electren, Comsa, Indra, Neopul, Telice, Eym and Citracc, for their involvement in a cartel on the market (...)

On 5 March 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced that it had imposed total fines of € 368,277,000 on two car safety equipment suppliers, Autoliv and TRW, for their involvement in two cartels concerning the supply of car seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels to European car (...)

On 24 January 2019, the Investigation and Prosecution Service of the Belgian Competition Authority (the “BCA”) imposed a € 98,000 fine on HM Products Benelux (“HM”) for engaging in resale price maintenance (“RPM”). HM imports and distributes infrared cabins of the HealthMate brand in the Benelux. The (...)

On 23 January 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered the suspension of the obligations imposed by the French Competition Authority on STIHL in its decision of 24 October 2018 (the “Decision”). This order requiring the suspension (the “Order”) is to remain in effect until the Court rules on the (...)

On 22 January 2019, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that it had imposed a fine of € 570,566,000 on Mastercard for preventing banks from offering lower interchange fees to retailers located in another EEA Member State, in breach of EU competition rules. Mastercard is the second (...)

On 6 December 2018, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) imposed a total fine of € 189 million on six household appliance manufacturers (BSH, Candy Hoover, Eberhardt Frères, Electrolux, Indesit and Whirlpool) for participating in two distinct cartels. In the first cartel, which lasted from (...)

On 9 October 2018, the German Federal Court of Justice annulled four judgments of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf with regard to the amount of fines imposed in the liquefied gas cartel case. The Federal Court of Justice remitted the case to the lower court as regards the calculation of (...)

On 26 September 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) delivered two judgments on the appeals brought by Infineon and Philips against the General Court (“GC”)’s earlier judgments relating to the European Commission’s decision in Smart card chips cartel case. By way of background, (...)

According to a press release and statement issued on 24 July 2018, the European Commission has, in four separate decisions, fined consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer a total of €111 million for engaging in resale price maintenance during periods (...)

On 19 July 2018, the Paris Court of Appeal (the “Court”) delivered a judgment in connection with the parcel delivery services cartel case (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2016, No. 1). The Court confirmed most of the findings of the French Competition Authority (“FCA”), including that the (...)

Cartel, judicial review, evidence, conterfactuel, parent On 12 July 2018, the General Court (“GC”) delivered fourteen judgments dismissing all of the appeals brought by the companies involved in the Power Cables cartel case. By way of background, in 2014, the European Commission adopted a (...)

On 19 April 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “ECJ”) delivered a judgment holding that investigations of price discrimination under EU competition law should involve an examination of all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to assess whether there is a “competitive (...)

On 12 April 2018, Advocate General (“AG”) Wathelet delivered an opinion in which he recommended that the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) set aside the General Court’s (“GC”) judgment which had dismissed the claims brought by Infineon in connection with its involvement in the smart card (...)

On 21 March 2018, the European Commission announced that it had adopted a decision fining eight Japanese producers of capacitors a total of € 253,935,000. The companies addressed by the decision, namely Elna, Hitachi, Holy Stone, Matsuo, NEC Tokin, Nichicon, Nippon Chemi-Con, Ruycom and Sanyo, (...)

By way of background, in 2012, the European Commission adopted a decision in which it found that a number of undertakings had fixed pricing mechanisms and surcharges for a variety of freight forwarding services, which the Commission considered to amount to four distinct infringements of the EU (...)

On 23 January 2018, the German Federal Court of Justice ruled on an action brought by a car repair shop (the claimant) against the general importer of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles (the defendant). The importer operated a selective distribution system for the servicing of its vehicles. (...)

On 22 November 2017, the European Commission announced that it had imposed nes totalling € 34 million on five car safety equipment suppliers for taking part in one or more of four separate cartels for the supply of car safety equipment to some Japanese car manufacturers in the EEA. The (...)

On 14 November 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) handed down a judgment on a request for preliminary ruling from the French Supreme Court regarding the relationship between the objectives of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and those of EU competition law (C-671/15, APVE (...)

On 10 November 2017, the General Court (“GC”) partially upheld the appeal lodged by Icap plc, Icap Management Services Ltd and Icap New Zealand Ltd (“Icap”) against a Commission decision ning Icap € 14.9 million for facilitating cartels in the market for interest rate derivatives in Japanese yen (...)

On 26 October 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) dismissed appeals in the pre-stressing steel cartel case brought by four Spanish manufacturers belonging to the Spanish Celsa group (Global Steel Wire, Moreda-Riviere Tre lerías, Tre lerías Quijano and Trenzas y Cables de (...)

On 18 October 2017, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) issued a decision imposing nes totalling € 302 million on three ooring companies (Forbo, Ger or and Tarkett) and a trade association (Syndicat Français des Enducteurs Calandreurs: the “SFEC”) for engaging in cartel activities between 1990 (...)

On 12 September 2017, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgment on an appeal lodged by Laufen Austria, a bathroom equipment manufacturer, against a Commission decision in connection with the bathroom fixtures and fittings cartel case, which was referred back to it for determination by the (...)

On 6 July 2017, the European Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) dismissed an appeal lodged by Toshiba against a judgment of the General Court (“GC”), which upheld the European Commission’s decision to re-impose nes on Toshiba for its involvement in the gas insulated switchgear cartel. (...)

On 2 May 2017, the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) found that ABB, AEG, Siemens, Schneider and Sécheron had engaged in a cartel in the context of public tenders organised by government-owned railway network company Infrabel and imposed fines amounting to a total of € 1,779,000. Infrabel had (...)

On 27 April 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) dismissed an appeal lodged by banana importer Pacific Fruit (and its parent companies) against a judgment of the General Court (“GC”), which upheld the European Commission’s decision finding that Pacific Fruit had participated in (...)

On 6 April 2017, Advocate General (“AG”) Wahl issued an opinion on a preliminary reference from the French Supreme Court arising from the Endive cartel investigated by the French Competition Authority. In his opinion, the AG con- siders that agricultural producers’ organisations and their (...)

On 8 March 2017, the European Commission announced that it had imposed fines under the cartel settlement procedure totalling € 155 million on six companies that supplied air conditioning and engine cooling components to car manufacturers. The companies involved, Behr, Calsonic, Denso, Panasonic, (...)

On 27 February 2017, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) decided to close a ten-year investigation into information exchanges between car rental companies without imposing any sanction. The FCA investigated whether information exchanged through airport management authorities facilitated (...)

Under EU case law, an undertaking can be held responsible for the actions of a person who is authorised to act on its behalf, regardless of any action or knowledge on the part of the managers of that undertaking. Consequently, the Commission may impose fines on an undertaking if it has shown (...)

On 8 February 2017, the European Commission announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 68 million on three car battery recyclers (Campine, Eco-Bat Technologies and Recylex) for operating a cartel in which they had allegedly agreed to fix the purchase prices of scrap lead-acid automotive (...)

Bathroom fittings and fixtures cartel case – concept of single and continuous infringement The concept of single and continuous infringement was developed by the Commission to impute liability to undertakings which had not been involved in every single cartel contact or had not engaged in every (...)

Under settled EU case law, a parent company may be held liable for the anticompetitive behaviour of its subsidiary, even if the former has not directly participated in the infringement, provided the parent company is in a position to exercise decisive influence over its subsidiary and has, in (...)

Under settled EU case law, a parent company may be held liable for the anticompetitive behaviour of its subsidiary even if the former has not directly participated in the infringement, provided the parent company is in a position to exercise decisive influence over its subsidiary and, in fact, (...)

Article 27(2) of Regulation No 1/2003 provides that the parties’ rights of defence are to be fully respected in proceedings by the European Commission pursuant to Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. Article 12 of Regulation 773/2004 states that the Commission must give the parties to whom it has (...)

Under the Commission’s cartel settlement procedure, an undertaking admitting liability to a cartel infringement and waiving certain procedural rights is rewarded with a 10% reduction in the fine. In the envelopes cartel case, the Commission fined five producers €19.4 million under the settlement (...)

Summary On 17 November 2016, Advocate General (“AG”) Kokott delivered her opinion on an appeal lodged before the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) by Pacific Fruit (and its parent companies) against a judgment of the General Court (“GC”) upholding the European Commission’s decision finding an (...)

Under Article 2 of Regulation 1/2003, the Commission has the burden of proving an infringement of Article 101 TFEU. In the present case, as evidence of the cartel infringement, the Commission relied on secretly-recorded telephone conversations, and the transcripts or notes made thereof, which (...)

In VM Remonts, the Court of Justice furst reiterated the established case-law on the liability of an undertaking for the conduct of an independent service provider: an undertaking may be held liable if the service provider acts under the direction or control of the undertaking concerned, and is (...)

On 19 July 2016, the Commission announced it had adopted a decision under the cartel settlement procedure fining truck producers a record breaking € 2.9 billion for their participation in a cartel on the market for medium and heavy trucks. The companies involved in the decision are MAN, (...)

Under settled case law, a subsidiary and its parent company may be regarded as forming a single economic unit for the purpose of EU competition law. In such case, the Commission may be entitled to hold the parent company jointly and severally liable for the unlawful conduct of its subsidiary (...)

While public price announcements are common commercial practice in many markets, such announcements may be challenged as illegal price signalling if they have the object or effect of restricting competition among suppliers. The question remains, however, whether such announcements are (...)

Portugal Telecom and Telefonica cases – Non-compete clauses: General Court endorses strict approach to ancillary restraints Non-compete clauses are standard practice in the context of the acquisition of a business to protect a purchaser’s investment. They guarantee the transfer to the purchaser (...)

Under Article 23(2) of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Rules on Competition, a fine imposed for competi- tion law infringements should not exceed 10 percent of the undertaking’s total turnover in the business year preceding the decision in which the Commission imposes the fine. In (...)

In its decisions of 16 May 2015, 30 December 2015 and 28 April 2016, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) found that food and drink retailers and the brewery Anheuser Busch InBev Germany Holding (“AB InBev”) engaged in a hub-and-spoke cartel by fixing prices for the sale of beer products. (...)

On 4 May 2016, the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court (“Lithuanian Supreme Court”) confirmed that 29 travel agencies had breached antitrust rules when using an online booking system to limit discounts for travel packages. This judgment follows the ruling handed down by the Court of Justice (...)

On 14 April 2016, the French Court of Appeal reduced the fines imposed on three wallpaper manufacturers for their involvement in a price-fixing cartel in the wallpaper sector between May 2006 and September 2010. In a decision of December 2014, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) found that (...)

On 18 March 2016, the European Commission published its initial findings of its sector inquiry into the e-commerce sector in relation to geo-blocking practices. The Commission de nes geo-blocking as commercial practices whereby online providers prevent users from accessing and purchasing (...)

On 17 March 2016, the European Commission published a report on the functioning of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (IBER). The current block exemption, which provides for an exemption from Article 101 TFEU for agreements between insurers relating to joint compilations, tables and (...)

On 23 February 2016, the College of Competition Prosecutors (the “Competition College”) of the Belgian Competition Authority adopted its second settlement decision involving six battery manufacturers (Battery Supplies, Celecric, Emrol, Enersys, Exide Technologies and Hoppecke) on account of these (...)

On 21 January 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) issued a judgment reducing the fine previously imposed by the European Commission on the Galp group for its participation in the Spanish bitumen cartel case. The judgment follows on from a previous ruling of the General Court (...)

On 19 January 2016, the General Court (“GC”) issued judgments rejecting actions brought by Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric against the recalculated fines amounting to approximately € 136 million imposed by the European Commission in June 2012 for their participation in the gas insulated switchgear (...)

On 16 December 2015, the EU General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought by several airlines against the European Commission’s 2010 decision imposing fines totalling € 799 million on the airlines for their alleged participation in a cartel relating to airfreight services. The (...)

On 17 September 2015, the Court of Justice (“ECJ”) issued two judgments on the appeals by Total SA and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Total Marketing Services, against two judgments of the General Court (“GC”) in relation to the paraffin wax cartel. In 2008, the European Commission found that Total (...)

On 15 July 2015, the General Court (“GC”) largely upheld the EU Commission’s decision in the pre-stressing steel cartel case in ten judgments on 12 separate appeals brought against the decision. However, the GC reduced the fine imposed on several applicants on the grounds that (i) the Commission (...)

On 20 May 2015, the General Court (“GC”) rejected an application for annulment by Timab Industries against a 2010 Commission decision imposing a fine of €59.8 million on the company for its participation in the animal feed phosphates cartel. Timab, a subsidiary of Cie Financière et de (...)

On 4 December 2014, the European Court of Justice (the “ECJ”) issued an order addressing two preliminary questions from the Spanish Supreme Court concerning an exclusive purchase obligation, which presumably prevented the party bound by the exclusivity from purchasing the products of competing (...)

On 4 September 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) handed down its judgment on appeals brought by YKK Corporation, YKK Holding Europe BV and YKK Stocko Fasteners (jointly referred to as “YKK”) against a judgment of the General Court (“GC”) dismissing their appeals against the (...)

On 11 July 2014, the General Court (“GC”) handed down three judgments reducing the fines imposed by the Commission’s decision of 1 October 2008 in the candle wax cartel case following appeals lodged by Sasol, Esso France and ExxonMobil, and RWE AG. On 1 October 2008, the Commission imposed fines (...)

In judgments handed down on 30 April and 22 May 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed appeals brought by FLSmidth, Plasticos Españoles SA (ASPLA) and ASPLA’s parent company Armando Álvarez (Álvarez) against earlier General Court (GC) judgments in the industrial bags cartel case. In (...)

On 21 May 2014, the General Court (GC) dismissed an appeal lodged by Toshiba against the European Commission’s decision of 7 October 2009 in the power transformers cartel case. In its 2009 decision, the Commission imposed fines totalling € 67.6 million on a number of European and Japanese (...)

On 15 May 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed an appeal brought by 1. garantovana against a General Court (GC) judgment which upheld a 2009 Commission decision in the calcium and magnesium reagents cartel. In 2009, the Commission adopted a decision imposing fines totalling € (...)

On 14 May 2014, the General Court (GC) handed down a judgment reducing the fine imposed by the Commission on Donau Chemie in the calcium and magnesium reagents cartel. In its decision of 22 July 2009, the Commission had imposed fines totalling € 61 million on nine undertakings for having (...)

On 14 May 2014, the General Court (GC) issued its judgment dismissing an appeal brought by Reagens against a Commission decision of 11 November 2009 fining 24 companies over € 173 million for operating a cartel on the market for heat stabilisers (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2009, No. 11). (...)

On 8 May 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed an appeal by French industrial conglomerate, Bolloré, which sought to overturn a European Commission decision imposing a fine for its participation in a cartel on the market for carbonless paper, which was re-adopted in June 2010 (...)

According to a press release of 23 July 2013, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed fines totalling € 97.64 million on eight companies for having engaged in bid-rigging in the supply of rails, points and sleepers to local public transportation companies, private, regional and (...)

On 18 July 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) dismissed in its entirety an appeal brought by Dow Chemical against a judgment of the General Court (“GC”) which upheld the Commission’s decision in the synthetic rubber cartel. In 2006, The Dow Chemical Company, Dow (...)

In a series of judgments handed down on 11 July 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) dismissed appeals brought by five Belgian removal companies against judgments of the General Court (“GC”) which largely upheld the European Commission’s 2008 decision fining the companies (...)

According to a press release of 11 July 2013, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed a fine of € 10 million on Moravia Steel Deutschland GmbH (“Moravia”) for having engaged in bid-rigging in the supply of rails to Deutsche Bahn AG in the period from 2001 to 2009. According to (...)

On 10 July 2013, the European Commission announced that it had adopted a decision fining four producers of wire harnesses a total of € 141.8 million for rigging a series of tenders in breach of Article 101 TFEU. In its decision, the Commission found that five companies – Sumitomo, Yazaki, (...)

In the final of a series of appeals in the copper fittings cartel case, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”), on 4 July 2013, dismissed an appeal by the Commission against a General Court (“GC”) judgment that upheld an appeal by Aalberts against the European Commission’s (...)

On 18 June 2013, the General Court (“GC”) dismissed appeals by three companies implicated in the aluminium fluoride cartel against a European Commission decision of June 2008 imposing fines on them for infringing Article 101(1) TFEU. In its decision, the Commission found that, in July 2000, (...)

On 13 June 2013, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down a ruling upholding the General Court’s (“GC”) judgment of 13 July 2011 that reduced from € 272.25 million to € 181.5 million the fine imposed on Versalis, a subsidiary of Italian oil company Eni, for its participation in a cartel (...)

On 30 May 2013, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgment dismissing an appeal brought by three companies within the Quinn Group (Quinn Plastics GmbH, Quinn Plastics NV and Quinn Barlo) against an earlier General Court (“GC”) judgment which had reduced the fine imposed by (...)

On 30 May 2013, Advocate General Sharpston issued her opinions in the appeals lodged by Groupe Gascogne SA, Gascogne Sack Deutschland GmbH (formerly Sachsa Verpackung) and Kendrion NV against judgments of the General Court (“GC”) concerning appeals against the European Commission’s (...)

On 29 May 2013, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) fined four distributors of commodity chemicals — Brenntag, Caldic Est, Univar and Solvadis — a total of € 79 million for engaging in cartel behaviour. The FCA found that, between 1998 and mid-2005, the parties had operated a cartel to (...)

On 29 May 2013, the Spanish National Competition Commission (“CNC”) issued a decision fining 22 distributors of sanitary ware and plumbing materials for cartel behaviour in the wholesale market for materials used in the installation, maintenance and repair of pipes for water and other (...)

On 23 May 2013, the European Commission announced that it had accepted commitments offered by Star Alliance members Air Canada, United and Lufthansa in the context of the Commission’s examination of their cooperation on the transatlantic air passenger transport market. The Commission had (...)

On 8 May 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) dismissed an appeal lodged by ENI against a judgment of the General Court (GC) which largely upheld the fines imposed by the European Commission for ENI’s participation in the synthetic rubber cartel. In November 2006, the (...)

On 19 April 2013, the European Commission launched a market test of the commitments offered by Penguin, aimed at reaching a settlement in the EU investigation into e-book pricing. In order to alleviate the Commission’s fears for collusion and higher prices in the e-book publishing sector, (...)

On 11 April 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) upheld an appeal by Mindo Srl against a judgment of the General Court that ruled that it was not required to adjudicate on Mindo’s appeal against the European Commission’s 2005 decision on the Italian raw tobacco cartel. (...)

On 28 March 2013, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed a 2008 decision of the French Competition Authority imposing fines totalling € 41.1 million on fuel companies of the Chevron- Texaco, Total, Exxon Mobil and Shell groups for collusive tendering in the supply of aviation fuel to Air (...)

On 14 March 2013, the General Court dismissed an appeal brought by Dole against a Commission decision fining Dole € 45.6 million for its participation in an alleged concerted practice consisting in the coordination of quotation prices for bananas supplied in Northern Europe. In a separate (...)

On 28 February 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) handed down a judgment on a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Portuguese Court of Appeal on the application of Article 101 TFEU to professional associations. The ECJ found that a professional association is (...)

On 28 February 2013, the European Commission announced that it had reduced the fines previously imposed on Saint-Gobain and Pilkington for their involvement in the car glass cartel. The corrections were due to two errors in computing the fines, as some of the sales of the two companies (...)

On 26 February 2013, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) made a consent order closing Tesco’s appeal against the Office of Fair Trading’s (“OFT”) dairy retail prices decision In December 2012, the CAT had handed down its judgment on Tesco’s appeal against an earlier OFT decision (...)

On 21 February 2013, the UK Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) announced that it had imposed a fine of £ 2.6 million on Mercedes-Benz and three of its commercial vehicle dealers – Ciceley, Enza and Road Range – for having engaged in anti-competitive practices involving market-sharing, price (...)

On 19 February 2013, the European Commission announced that it has decided not to prolong its guidelines on the application of Article 101 TFEU to maritime transport services (the “Maritime Guidelines”) when they expire on 26 September 2013. The Guidelines, adopted on 1 July 2008, cover (...)

On 19 February 2013, the FCO imposed fines of approximately € 41 million on 22 flour milling companies, an industry association, and their representatives. These fines were imposed in addition to an approximately € 24 million fine already levied in October 2011. According to the FCO, the (...)

On 31 January 2013, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced that it has imposed more than € 60 million in fines on eleven companies for three different cartel infringements in the confectionary manufacturing sector. According to its press release, the FCO found price-fixing (...)

On 23 January 2013, the European Commission imposed fines of € 66,894,000 on Spanish telecommunications provider Telefónica and € 12,290,000 on Portuguese telecommunications provider Portugal Telecom on account of an agreement between them not to compete with one another in the Iberian (...)

On 22 January 2013, the Court of Justice of the EU (“ECJ”) ruled that, when the EU courts reduce a fine imposed by the Commission on a subsidiary for an infringement of the EU competition rules, they may also apply the same reduction to the fine imposed jointly and severally on the (...)

On 19 December 2012, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down judgments dismissing all the pleas put forward by Heineken and Bavaria against the European Commission’s decision fining those companies for their participation in a cartel on the Dutch beer market from February 1996 to (...)

On 12 December 2012, the General Court (“GC”) dismissed appeals by four undertakings against a Commission decision fining them for their involvement in a cartel affecting the supply of calcium carbide and magnesium reagents. The Commission’s July 2009 decision imposed fines of € 61 million (...)

On 29 November 2012, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgment on the appeal by Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (“GCB”) against a Commission decision finding that GCB restricted competition with certain fees and tariffs which hindered the issuance of payment cards in France at (...)

On 27 September 2012, the General Court (“GC”) handed down sixteen judgments in the Dutch bitumen cartel case. The Court dismissed the appeals of fourteen undertakings in their entirety, while it partially annulled the Commission’s 2006 decision in relation to two of the cartel participants, (...)

On 27 September 2012, the EU General Court (“GC”) issued its judgment on the appeal brought by Guardian Industries Corp and Guardian Europe Sarl (“Guardian”) against a Commission decision fining them a total of € 148 million for their participation in a cartel in the flat glass sector from 20 (...)

In October 2012, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) published an order of 13 September 2012 dismissing an appeal by Total SA and Elf Aquitaine SA against an earlier EU General Court (“GC”) ruling in the bleaching chemicals cartel. In 2006, the Commission had found that nine companies had (...)

According to a press release of 25 July 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed fines totalling around € 2.4 million on eight manufacturers of automatic door systems, their trade association and one individual for their involvement in a price-fixing cartel. The parties (...)

On 12 and 19 July 2012, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgments dismissing in their entirety appeals brought by Compañía Española de Tabaco en Rama (“Cetarsa”), Alliance One International Inc. (“AOI”), and Standard Commercial Tobacco Co. Inc. (“SCTC”) against the General (...)

On 19 July 2012, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed an appeal by Kaimer GmbH & Co. Holding KG (“Kaimer”), Sanha Kaimer GmbH & Co. KG (“Sanha Kaimer”) and Sanha Italia Srl (“Sanha Italia”) against an earlier General Court (“GC”) judgment which had partially reduced fines (...)

On 29 June 2012, the EU’s General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought by E.ON and GDF Suez against a Commission decision fining them for their involvement in a market-sharing agreement. In its judgments, the GC confirmed the previous Commission decision, but reduced the (...)

On 27 June 2012, the European Commission announced that it had fined a number of producers of water management products a total of € 13.7 million for their involvement in an illegal price-fixing cartel in breach of Article 101 TFEU. In its Decision, the Commission found that three (...)

On 27 June 2012, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought by Berning & Söhne, Coats Holdings (“Coats”), and YKK against a Commission decision fining them for operating a series of cartels in the markets for zip and other fasteners and their attaching machines. (...)

On 27 June 2012, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgment on the appeal brought by French investment and industrial group Bolloré against the European Commission’s re-adoption of its decision in the carbonless paper cartel. The GC upheld the fine of € 21.26 million and ruled that the (...)

On 27 June 2012, the European Commission announced that it had re-imposed a € 131.61 million fine on Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric, after last year’s General Court (“GC”) judgment partially annulling the original decision concerning these companies’ involvement in the gas insulated (...)

The European Commission announced, on 18 June 2012, that it had adopted a decision to make legally binding commitments offered by Siemens AG (“Siemens”) and Areva SA (“Areva”) to reduce the scope and duration of certain non-compete and confidentiality obligations imposed on Siemens further to (...)

On 18 June 2012, the Swedish Competition Authority (“SCA”) adopted a decision accepting voluntary commitments offered by the Swedish office supply chain Rationella Kontors Varuinköp (“RKV”) no longer to provide any price information in future product- and calendar catalogues in which member (...)

According to a press release published on 8 June 2012, the Dutch Competition Authority (“NMa”) has lowered the fines it had earlier imposed in the construction cartel case and the gardening cartel case. The NMa’s decision to reduce the fines follows two decisions by the NMa’s College of (...)

On 5 June 2012, the General Court dismissed an appeal brought by Imperial Chemical Industries (“ICI”) against a Commission decision fining ICI € 91 million in connection with the acrylic glass (PMMA) cartel. In the May 2006 decision under appeal, the Commission found that, between 1997 and (...)

According to a press release published by the Dutch Competition Authority (“NMa”) on 5 June 2012, the NMa has imposed fines totalling € 23 million on a number of pepper growers’ co- operatives and on five shallot growers and processors for their involvement in two separate cartel agreements. (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (“CNC”) has recently fined the Asociación Nacional de Informadores Gráficos de Prensa y Televisión (“ANIGP-TV”) and the Unió de Professionals de la Imatge i la Fotografia de Catalunya Sindicat de la Imatge (“UPIFC SINDICAT DE LA IMATGE”) for recommending a minimum (...)

In October 2012, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) published an order of 3 May 2012, dismissing an appeal by World Wide Tobacco España (“WWTE”) against an earlier EU General Court (“GC”) ruling in the Spanish raw tobacco cartel case. In October 2004, the European Commission had fined (...)

On 3 May 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) issued its judgment on the appeals lodged by Legris Industries and its subsidiary, Comap, against the General Court’s March 2011 judgments in the copper fittings cartel case, ruling that both appeals should be dismissed in (...)

On 28 March 2012, the European Commission announced that it had fined 14 international groups of companies a total of € 169 million for participating in four distinct cartels. According to the press release published by the Commission, the aim of the participants in the cartel was to fix (...)

On 28 March 2012, the European Commission announced that it had fined nine European producers of mountings for windows a total of approximately € 86 million for operating a price- fixing cartel. The companies involved are Roto, Gretsch-Unitas, Siegenia, Winkhaus, Hautau, Fuhr, Strenger, (...)

On 28 March 2012, the European Commission announced that it has readopted an amended version of its sodium chlorate cartel decision following a General Court ruling last year in favour of Aragonesas and Uralita. In its decision of 11 June 2008, the Commission had initially imposed a (...)

On 15 March 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 8.7 million on 13 companies active in the chemical wholesale sector. According to the FCO, representatives of the companies had agreed on prices and supply quotas and concluded customer (...)

According to a press release of 7 March 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed a fine of € 30 million on IVECO Magirus Brandschutztechnik GmbH (“IVECO”), a manufacturer of fire-fighting vehicles. IVECO is accused of having participated in illegal price- fixing, quota (...)

On 6 March 2012, the EU General Court handed down three judgments relating to the appeals filed by FLS Past, FLSmidth and UPM- Kymmene Oyj against a European Commission decision fining them for their involvement in a cartel affecting the supply of industrial bags. The decision under (...)

According to a press release of 1 March 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has concluded its cartel proceedings against manufacturers of concrete pipes and shafts for sewage systems. Following the first fines of € 11.86 million imposed on two manufacturers and individuals in the (...)

On 20 February 2012, the Finnish Competition Authority (“FCA”) announced that it is enhancing its scrutiny of cartels. The authority has in particular bolstered its recruitment of antitrust officials, who will primarily focus on cartel enforcement. Furthermore, the FCA is tightening (...)

In two recent orders, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has reaffirmed the principles governing the liability of parent companies for the conduct of their wholly-owned subsidiaries, as established in Akzo Nobel. In the first order issued on 2 February 2012, the ECJ dismissed an (...)

On 31 January 2012, the Commission announced that it had closed an antitrust investigation of European Minibulk eG and Container Feeder eG for alleged anti- competitive practices. The co-operatives, which transport containers between small regional ports in northern Europe, have agreed to (...)

On 20 November 2012, the Danish Appeals Tribunal handed down a judgment on appeals brought by six Danish cooperative chains of independent real estate agents against a decision by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (“DCCA”) of 25 January 2012 finding that the companies had been (...)

The Spanish National Competition Commission (“CNC”) has recently adopted a decision imposing fines in relation to a price-fixing cartel established by Cementos Portland Valderribas S.A. (“CPV”), Canteras de Echauri y Tiebas S.A. (“CETYA”), Hormigones Beriain S.A. (“BERIAIN”), Cemex España S.A. (...)

On 11 January 2012, the Spanish National Competition Commission (“CNC”) announced that it had fined Montesa Honda, S.A. (Honda) and several of its dealers for engaging in illegal price-fixing practices on the motorcycle resale market. Formal proceedings began in April 2010 after (...)

On 10 January 2012, Romania’s Competition Council levied fines totalling RON 880 million (around € 200 million) on six oil companies for having reached an understanding to withdraw a certain type of fuel - Eco Premium (an unleaded gasoline pre-mixed with lead substitute) - from the market (...)

On 4 January 2012, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office imposed a total fine of € 485,000 on Henkel for its participation in a cartel in the washing detergents sector in Slovakia. Procter & Gamble, which blew the whistle on the illegal conduct, benefited from immunity from fines. The (...)

According to a press release of 16 December 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed fines totalling approximately € 15.5 million on six manufacturers and retailers of hydrants and other water network fittings, as well as on four of their executives, for their participation (...)

On 12 December 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) quashed a decision of the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) in which the UK regulator had imposed a record fine on a number of tobacco manufacturers and retailers for manipulating prices of tobacco products through a network of illegal (...)

On 8 December 2011, the EU Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed appeals brought by KME Germany, KME France, KME Italy (“KME”) and Chalkor AE Epexergasias Metallon (“Chalkor”) against judgments of the General Court (“GC”) in the copper industrial and plumbing tubes cartel cases. In December 2003, (...)

In a judgment handed down on 30 November 2011, the General Court (“GC”) reduced the fine imposed by the Commission on certain companies within the Quinn Group (formerly the Barlo Group) for their participation in a cartel on the market for methacrylates/acrylic glass. In a decision adopted (...)

According to a press release of 23 November 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has imposed fines totalling approximately € 24 million on Reckitt Benckiser Deutschland GmbH (Reckitt Benckiser) and one of its executives. The charges against Reckitt Benckiser include illegal price (...)

In nine separate judgments handed down on 16 November 2011, the General Court (“GC”) annulled the fine imposed by the Commission on one undertaking – Stempher BV (“Stempher”) – and reduced the fine imposed on another – parent company Low & Bonar and its subsidiary Bonar Technical Fabrics (...)

According to a press release of 8 November 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has concluded proceedings against two suppliers of heavy fuel oil, which is used for powering seagoing vessels. BOMINFLOT Bunkergesellschaft für Mineralöle mbH & Co. KG (BOMINFLOT) and BMT Bremer (...)

In a recently published decision, which was adopted on 4 August 2011, the European Commission has rejected a complaint submitted by BRV Pty Ltd (“BRV”) which alleged that a group of undertakings – in particular, numerous vehicle engine manufacturers – had violated Articles 101 and 102 TFEU by (...)

On 22 July 2011, Glunz AG, a manufacturer of chip-boards and subsidiary of Sonae Indústria, announced that it has reached an agreement with the German Competition Authority (Bundeskartellamt) which will “put an end to an ongoing investigation into the wood-based boards market”. In March 2009, (...)

On 14 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down two judgments dismissing appeals brought by Elf Aquitaine, Totaland their subsidiary Arkema France against the European Commission’s bleaching chemicals cartel decision. By its decision of 3 May 2006, the Commission found that nine companies (...)

On 14 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down two judgments dismissing appeals brought by Elf Aquitaine, Totaland their subsidiary Arkema France against the European Commission’s bleaching chemicals cartel decision. By its decision of 3 May 2006, the Commission found that nine companies (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments on appeals brought against a European Commission decision of 29 November 2006 fining several companies for their participation in a cartel on the synthetic rubber market. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision in relation to (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments in the appeals brought by companies of the Otis, KONE, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp groups against a European Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101(1) TFEU by operating a cartel on the market for elevators (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments in the appeals brought by companies of the Otis, KONE, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp groups against a European Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101(1) TFEU by operating a cartel on the market for elevators (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments in the appeals brought by companies of the Otis, KONE, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp groups against a European Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101(1) TFEU by operating a cartel on the market for elevators (...)

On 13 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments in the appeals brought by companies of the Otis, KONE, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp groups against a European Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101(1) TFEU by operating a cartel on the market for elevators (...)

On 12 July 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgments in four appeals brought by addressees of the European Commission’s gas insulated switchgear cartel decision. In its underlying decision, the Commission found that manufacturers of gas switchgear used to insulate electrical (...)

On 5 July 2011, the Spanish Competition Authority (“CNC”) announced that it had fined Grupo Colomer (“Colomer”) € 170,300 for its participation in a shower gel cartel. In an earlier decision of 21 January 2010, the CNC found that three shower gel producers (Sara Lee, Puig and Colgate Palmolive) had (...)

On 28 June 2011, the Spanish Competition Authority (“CNC”) announced that it had fined the Spanish Association of Fluid Pump Manufacturers (Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Bombas de Fluidos –“AEFBF”) and 19 manufacturers and/or distributors of fluid pumps a total of € 18 million for engaging in (...)

On 17 May 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down two judgments on appeals brought by Elf Aquitaine (“Elf”) and its former subsidiary Arkema against the Commission’s 2008 decision jointly fining the two companies a total of € 59 million for participation in the sodium chlorate cartel. In its (...)

On 17 May 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down two judgments on appeals brought by Elf Aquitaine (“Elf”) and its former subsidiary Arkema against the Commission’s 2008 decision jointly fining the two companies a total of € 59 million for participation in the sodium chlorate cartel. In its (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority has recently imposed fines totalling € 335,000 on the Association of Spanish Newspaper Editors (Asociación de Editores de Diarios Españoles- AEDE), the Spanish Free Press Association (Asociación Española de Prensa Gratuita- AEPG) and the Federative Association of (...)

On 4 May 2011, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf rejected the complaint of an association of hearing aid acousticians that claimed that the German Cartel Office (FCO) did not have the right, during an inspection at the association’s premises, to request the inspection of documents in (...)

On 15 and 27 April 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down a series of judgments relating to the remaining appeals against the Office of Fair Trading’s (“OFT”) decision of 21 September 2009 in the construction bid-rigging cartel case (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2009, No. (...)

On 15 and 27 April 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down a series of judgments relating to the remaining appeals against the Office of Fair Trading’s (“OFT”) decision of 21 September 2009 in the construction bid-rigging cartel case. The judgments of 15 April 2011 related to (...)

On 14 April 2011, Advocate General (“AG”) Juliane Kokott advised the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) to set aside the 2009 judgment of the General Court (“GC”) partially upholding the Commission’s 2000 decision fining Solvay and CFK for their participation in a cartel affecting the market for soda (...)

On 14 April 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down its judgment on Visa‘s appeal against a 2007 Commission decision relating to Visa‘s refusal to admit Morgan Stanley as a member of its payment card network (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2007, No. 10). In its judgment, the GC rejects (...)

On 1 April 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down its judgment relating to three appeals against the amount of the fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) in a decision of 29 September 2009 in the construction recruitment cartel case. In its judgment, the CAT reduced (...)

On 29 March 2011, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed an appeal brought by ArcelorMittal Luxembourg SA (formerly Arbed SA) against the judgment of the General Court confirming the Commission’s decision to impose a fine totalling € 10 million on it for its participation in a cartel on (...)

On 29 March 2011, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed an appeal brought by ArcelorMittal Luxembourg SA (formerly Arbed SA) against the judgment of the General Court confirming the Commission’s decision to impose a fine totalling € 10 million on it for its participation in a cartel on (...)

On 11, 22 and 24 March 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down a series of judgments relating to appeals against the level of fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) in a decision of 21 September 2009 in the construction bid-rigging case. In its judgments, the CAT has (...)

On 11, 22 and 24 March 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down a series of judgments relating to appeals against the level of fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) in a decision of 21 September 2009 in the construction bid-rigging case. In its judgments, the CAT has (...)

On 12 March 2011, the European Commission published a summary decision under Article 9(2) of Regulation 1/2003, accepting the commitments proposed by Visa Europe on its multilateral interchange fees (“MIFs”) for point-of-sale transactions with immediate debit payment cards within the EEA. The (...)

On 11, 22 and 24 March 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down a series of judgments relating to appeals against the level of fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) in a decision of 21 September 2009 in the construction bid-rigging case. In its judgments, the CAT has (...)

On 8 March 2011, the General Court (“GC”) handed down a judgment reducing the fine imposed by the European Commission on World Wide Tobacco España (“WWTE”) in the Spanish raw tobacco case. WWTE, an indirect subsidiary of the US-based Standard Commercial Corporation, was a Spanish tobacco processor, (...)

According to a press release of 24 February 2011, the Austrian Competition Authority (“ACA”) will appeal against a decision of the Austrian Cartel Court terminating proceedings against 40 transport companies that allegedly engaged in a cartel. In February 2010, the ACA had submitted a request to (...)

According to a press release of 18 February 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed a total fine of € 20.5 million on three manufacturers of fire-fighting vehicles for their participation in a cartel, as well as on a Swiss accountant who assisted in operating the cartel. (...)

According to a press release of 18 February 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed a total fine of € 20.5 million on three manufacturers of fire-fighting vehicles for their participation in a cartel, as well as on a Swiss accountant who assisted in operating the cartel. (...)

According to a press release of 18 February 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed a total fine of € 20.5 million on three manufacturers of fire-fighting vehicles for their participation in a cartel, as well as on a Swiss accountant who assisted in operating the cartel. (...)

On 7 February 2011, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision fining the Spanish perfumes and cosmetics association (STANPA) for facilitating several anti-competitive exchanges of competitively sensitive information among its members between 2004 and 2008. According to the decision, (...)

On 7 February 2011, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision fining the Spanish perfumes and cosmetics association (STANPA) for facilitating several anti-competitive exchanges of competitively sensitive information among its members between 2004 and 2008. According to the decision, (...)

On 3 February 2011, the General Court handed down a judgment reducing the fine imposed by the Commission on Compañía Española de Tabaco en Rama (“Cetarsa”) for its involvement in the Spanish raw tobacco cartel. In October 2004, the Commission adopted a decision fining four Spanish processors of raw (...)

On 3 February 2011, the General Court handed down a judgment reducing the fine imposed by the Commission on Compañía Española de Tabaco en Rama (“Cetarsa”) for its involvement in the Spanish raw tobacco cartel. In October 2004, the Commission adopted a decision fining four Spanish processors of raw (...)

According to a press release of 25 January 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) imposed a total fine of € 1 million for price fixing and customer allocation on five manufacturers and one wholesaler of paper plates, paper bowls, take-away bowls and paper cake trays. Representatives of the (...)

On 20 January 2011, the Spanish Competition Authority fined the notaries’ association of the Asturias region for putting in place an anti-competitive arrangement in breach of the Spanish provision equivalent to Article 101 TFEU. In particular, the decision found that the notaries’ association (...)

In a press statement of 6 January 2011, the Dutch Competition Authority (“NMa”) announced that it had imposed a fine totalling € 17.7 million on four producers of double-glazing for taking part in a cartel on the double-glazing market in the Netherlands. The companies concerned are Koninklijke (...)

On 16 December 2010, the French Competition Authority imposed fines totalling € 101,000 on four welding electrode producers (Le Bronze Industriel (LBI); Schrub; Ohlmann and Weldur) for colluding on tenders to supply car manufacturers Renault and Peugeot between 2002 and 2005. In its decision, (...)

On 7 December 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) imposed fines totalling € 15.11 million on twelve companies active in the sector for the wholesaling of chemicals for having engaged in a long-term series of anticompetitive practices. Representatives of these companies are reported to (...)

On 9 November 2010, the Commission announced its decision to fine eleven air cargo carriers a total of € 799,445,000 for their involvement in a worldwide price-fixing cartel in the airfreight services sector. Air cargo carriers provide their services to freight forwarders, who arrange the (...)

According to a press release of 7 October 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has imposed a fine of € 660,000 on two manufacturers of printing chemicals for having concluded anti-competitive agreements. According to the findings of the FCO, over a period of almost 20 years, the (...)

On 6 October 2010, the Commission issued a decision in which it recalculated the fines it imposed earlier this year in the pre-stressing steel cartel case. In its original decision of 30 June 2010, the Commission imposed fines totalling € 518.5 million after having found that that seventeen (...)

On 14 September 2010, Advocate General Mazák issued his opinion on an appeal brought by General Química and its parent companies, Repsol Química and Repsol YPF concerning the attribution of liability in the rubber chemicals cartel case. On 18 December 2008, the General Court (at that time, the (...)

On 13 September 2010, the General Court handed down judgments on the appeals brought by Trioplast Industrier AB and Trioplast Wittenheim SA against the European Commission’s decision fining them for their role in a cartel amongst industrial bags producers. In its judgment, the General Court (...)

On 8 September 2010, the General Court handed down its judgment on an appeal brought by Deltafina against the European Commission’s decision of 20 October 2004, fining it € 11,880,000 for its participation in a cartel of producers and processors of raw tobacco in Spain. The General Court upheld (...)

According to a press release of 12 August 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (”FCO”) has imposed a fine of € 91 million on Alstom Power Systems GmbHand two of its former managers for fixing prices and quotas and allocating customers for steam boilers. According to the FCO, from the 1990s (...)

According to a press release of 5 August 2010, the Spanish Competition Authority has fined seven undertakings active as road transport forwarding agents for entering into a price-fixing cartel concerning cross-border road transport. The undertakings involved were Blue Water Shipping España, DHL (...)

According to a press release of 29 July 2010, the Spanish Competition Authority has imposed fines totalling approximately € 6.7 million on eight sherry producers (Bodegas González Byass, Bodegas José Estévez, Bodegas Williams & Humbert, Bodegas Emilio Lustau, Bodegas Barbadillo, Caydsa, Bodegas (...)

In a judgment handed down on 1 July 2010, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) confirmed the € 85.8 million fine imposed on Knauf Gips KG (“Knauf”) by the Commission for its participation in a cartel on the plasterboard market. In 2002, the Commission imposed fines totalling € 478 million on BPB, (...)

On 1 July 2010, the Rotterdam District Court handed down a judgment in an appeal brought against a decision of the Dutch Competition Authority (“NMa”) imposing fines on a number of undertakings found to have been involved in a cartel in the tree-growing sector in the Netherlands. In a judgment (...)

On 30 June 2010, the European Commission issued a decision imposing fines totaling € 518 million on seventeen producers of prestressing steel for their involvement in a long-running price-fixing and market-sharing cartel in breach of Article 101 TFEU. Prestressing steel is used with concrete in (...)

On 29 June 2010, the Paris Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the appeals brought against a decision of the French Competition Authority of July 2009, which found that five rail track maintenance companies had infringed Article 81 EC (now Article 101 TFEU) and its French equivalent by (...)

In a press release of 23 June 2010, the European Commission announced the re-adoption of its decision to fine Bolloré for its participation in price-fixing and market-sharing agreements in the market for carbonless paper. The Commission had to re-adopt a decision against Bolloré as a result of a (...)

On 17 June 2010, the European Court of Justice rejected an appeal brought by Lafarge SA (“Lafarge”) against the judgment of the General Court confirming the Commission’s decision to impose a fine totaling € 249.6 million on it for its participation in a cartel on the plasterboard market. In 2002, (...)

On 15 June 2010, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected in its entirety an appeal brought by Veolia Transport (previously Connex) against a decision of the former Competition Council of July 2005, which imposed fines totaling € 12 million on Kéolis, Connex and Transdev – three market leaders in the (...)

On 11 June 2010, the Belgian College of Prosecutors in Competition Matters issued a report to the Competition Council alleging illegal cartel activities in the BSE testing sector in Belgium. According to the report, several BSE testing laboratories and slaughterhouses operated a market-sharing (...)

Following the imposition of fines against coffee roasters in December 2009 totalling € 159.5 million for a cartel on the market supplying the food retail sector, coffee roasters have recently again been subject to the imposition of fines by the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”). According to a (...)

The European Commission has recently consulted on commitments offered by Visa Europe in the context of the Commission’s ongoing investigation into multilateral interchange fees (“MIF”). MIFs are charged by a cardholder’s bank (the “issuing bank”) to a merchant’s bank (the “acquiring bank”) for each (...)

According to a press release of 28 May 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has imposed fines totalling € 115 million on five manufacturers of spectacle lenses, seven employees and a national association of opticians (“ZVA”) for their involvement in two cartel agreements. The companies (...)

On 26 May 2010, the Polish Competition Authority issued a decision penalising an illegal agreement by means of which the Polish paints and varnishes producer Tikkurila had fixed the retail prices for its products with two home improvement chains, Praktiker and Castorama. Proceedings concerning (...)

On 19 May 2010, the General Court reduced two of the fines imposed by the European Commission in September 2004 in the copper plumbing tubes cartel case. In its decision, the Commission fined seven companies a total of € 222.3 million for their participation in a price-fixing and market-sharing (...)

On 12 May 2010, the General Court dismissed an appeal lodged by EMC Development (“EMC”), a Swedish company active in the commercial exploitation of specialist cement production technology, against a Commission decision rejecting its complaint alleging the infringement of Article 101 TFEU by a (...)

On 4 May 2010, the Commission opened a public consultation on the treatment of various types of horizontal cooperation agreements under the EU competition rules. The consultation forms part of the Commission’s preparation of new block exemption regulations and guidelines for horizontal (...)

On 4 May 2010, the Commission opened a public consultation on the treatment of various types of horizontal cooperation agreements under the EU competition rules. The consultation forms part of the Commission’s preparation of new block exemption regulations and guidelines for horizontal (...)

On 4 May 2010, the Commission opened a public consultation on the treatment of various types of horizontal cooperation agreements under the EU competition rules. The consultation forms part of the Commission’s preparation of new block exemption regulations and guidelines for horizontal (...)

On 28 April 2010, the General Court issued its judgments on appeals brought by six industrial thread producers against a Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101 TFEU through their participation in price-fixing cartels. In its decision of 14 September 2005, the (...)

On 28 April 2010, the General Court issued its judgments on appeals brought by six industrial thread producers against a Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101 TFEU through their participation in price-fixing cartels. In its decision of 14 September 2005, the (...)

On 28 April 2010, the General Court issued its judgments on appeals brought by six industrial thread producers against a Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101 TFEU through their participation in price-fixing cartels. In its decision of 14 September 2005, the (...)

On 28 April 2010, the General Court issued its judgments on appeals brought by six industrial thread producers against a Commission decision finding that they had infringed Article 101 TFEU through their participation in price-fixing cartels. In its decision of 14 September 2005, the (...)

On 26 April 2010, the European Commissioner for Commission Joaquín Almunia welcomed proposals by Visa Europe to reduce its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) for debit card payments. An interchange fee is charged by an issuing bank (the customer’s bank) to an acquiring bank (the retailer’s (...)

On 12 April 2010, the Spanish Competition Authority fined a Spanish association of crane undertakings (Anagrual) for adopting anti-competitive recommendations in breach of the provision equivalent to Article 101 TFEU under Spanish law. In particular, the decision found that the trade (...)

On 10 March 2010, the European Commission opened a consultation on remedies offered by British Airways (“BA”), American Airlines (“AA”) and Iberia in the context of its review of the airlines’ envisaged cooperation relating to transatlantic flights under Article 101 TFEU. The three airlines have (...)

On 2 March 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 13.36 million on the members of a price-fixing cartel in the mortar sector, who had agreed on charging additional fees to customers to cover the setting up of silos for dry mortar. The FCO’s (...)

According to a press release of 2 March 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has recently imposed a fine of € 1.5 million on three groups of companies active in the production of ready-mix concrete in the region of Freiburg im Breisgau, as well as on the CEOs of the three groups. The FCO (...)

On 24 February 2010, Ian Norris, the former CEO of Morgan Crucible plc, was extradited to the United States by British authorities to stand trial on charges of obstructing the course of justice in connection with an antitrust investigation conducted by the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”). The (...)

The European Commission has recently confirmed that it is investigating the sufficiency of remedies proposed by British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia in the context of its review of the compatibility of the airlines’ envisaged cooperation relating to transatlantic flights with Article (...)

On 18 October 2010, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto announced that they have abandoned their plans to enter into a proposed $120 billion joint venture combining their Western Australian iron ore production activities in light of strong resistance from the Commission and the German Federal Cartel (...)

On 20 January 2010, the Spanish Competition Authority fined four undertakings active in the management of hospital waste in Spain − Consenur, Cespa, Interlun and Sistemas Integrales Sanitarios − for having entered into certain market-sharing arrangements since 1997 in breach of the provision (...)

Almost all of the appeal proceedings brought before the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf by several insurance companies and their current and former management board members against fines imposed by the German Federal Cartel Office for collusion in the field of industrial insurances have (...)

According to a press release of 12 January 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has fined three German coffee roasters, Tchibo GmbH, Melitta Kaffee GmbH, Bremen and Dallmayr Kaffee oHG, as well as six of their employees, a total of € 159.5 million for horizontal price fixing. The FCO’s (...)

On 6 January 2010, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into the “Baltic Max Feeder” scheme for European feeder vessels. The scheme, elaborated by German tax consultants Anchor, would involve European owners of feeder vessels (i.e., smaller, short-sea container vessels) (...)

On 17 December 2009, the General Court (GC) issued its judgments on appeals brought by Solvay against European Commission decisions finding that it had infringed Articles 101 and 102 TFEU for its participation in a cartel affecting the market for soda ash and the abuse of its dominant position (...)

On 16 December 2009, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) ruled that the Italian Football Association (“IFA”) had infringed Article 101 TFEU by implementing an agreement impeding the sale by individual football clubs of television broadcasting rights relating to Second Division Championship (...)

On 15 December 2009, a number of Italy’s largest pasta makers were raided by the Italian Revenue Police as part of a criminal investigation into a suspected price-fixing cartel, which is alleged to have caused an increase in the retail price of pasta by 50% in the last two years. The (...)

On 10 December 2009, the Polish Competition Authority announced that it had imposed unprecedented fines amounting to PLN 411 million (approximately € 99 million) on Polish producers of grey cement, who were found to have participated in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel for over eleven (...)

In a judgment handed down on 9 December 2009, the Court of Appeal has ruled on the relationship between the cartel offence under UK law and the EU competition rules. Since the entry into force of the Enterprise Act, it has been a criminal offence in the UK for individuals to enter into cartel (...)

On 3 November 2009, the European Commission announced that it was opening a consultation on a draft guidance document for participants in the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) Direct Debit Scheme, to ensure that the scheme complies with Article 81 EC. The scheme, which was launched on 2 (...)

On 7 October 2009, the Commission announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 67.6 million on a number of European and Japanese companies for having participated in a market-sharing cartel that operated on the market for power transformers between June 1999 and May 2003 in breach of Article (...)

On 30 September 2009, the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) handed down a judgment reducing the fine imposed by the European Commission on Hoechst GmbH for its participation in a market-sharing and price-fixing cartel on the monochloroacetic acid market in violation of Article 81 EC. In its (...)

On 30 September 2009, the Commission announced that it had re-adopted a decision fining eight companies over € 83 million for their participation in a cartel in the Italian concrete reinforcing bar sector, following the annulment of the Commission’s original decision by the CFI on procedural (...)

On 30 September 2009, the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) imposed fines totalling £ 39.27 million (around € 43 million) on six recruitment agencies for price-fixing and the collective boycott of an intermediary company in the supply of candidates to the construction industry. Two further agencies (...)

On 29 September 2009, the Paris Court of Appeal partially annulled a decision of 21 May 2008, whereby the French Competition Council (now the French Competition Authority) had fined six plywood manufacturers a total of € 8 million for having coordinated price increases within their trade (...)

On 24 September 2009, the ECJ dismissed in its entirety an appeal by four Austrian banks against a CFI judgment of December 2006, in which the CFI largely upheld a Commission decision of June 2002 that fined eight Austrian banks a total of € 124.26 million for their participation in a series of (...)

In a recently published decision of 16 September 2009, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf rejected a legal action brought by the German Football League (“DFL”) and the Association of Leagues against the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”). In April 2008, the DFL had presented to the FCO a (...)

In a recently published decision of 9 September 2009, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf upheld a decision of the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) of November 2008 which found that a call on farmers made by the German Federal Dairy Farmers’ Association (“BDM”) to boycott dairies infringed (...)

On 3 September 2009, the ECJ partially set aside the CFI’s judgment and annulled the Commission’s decision in the carbonless paper cartel case. In December 2001, the Commission fined ten undertakings a total of € 313.7 million for their participation in a series of price-fixing agreements and (...)

On 3 September 2009, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgment dismissing an appeal by William Prym GmbH & Co KG and Prym Consumer GmbH & Co KG(“Prym”) against a Court of First Instance (CFI) judgment of 12 September 2007. In 2004, the Commission imposed fines of € 30 (...)

On 22 July 2009, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision fining eight concrete producers (Candesa, Devasa, Hormigones Cántabros, Hongomar, Quinsa, Rosillo, Hormigones y Minas and Tracman) for their participation in a cartel between 1993 and 2003 in the Cantabria region. In (...)

On 22 July 2009, the European Commission adopted a decision imposing fines totaling € 61.120 million on nine companies for their participation in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel affecting the supply of calcium carbide-based and magnesium-based reagents. Calcium carbide powder and (...)

On 21 July 2009 the Council of the Slovak Antimonopoly Office, an appeals body in competition law proceedings, upheld an earlier decision of the Office that VAS s.r.o. and N – ADOVA, spol. s.r.o. had infringed the competition rules by concluding a cartel agreement affecting the market for (...)

On 9 July 2009, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) partially upheld an appeal brought by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) against a judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) of 27 September 2006. As a result, the € 39 million fine that the Commission had imposed on ADM in 2001 for its (...)

On 8 July 2008, the Commission announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 1.106 billion on E.ON and its subsidiary E.ON Ruhrgas and on GDF Suez for their participation in a market-sharing cartel that operated in the French and German gas markets between 1975 and 2005 in breach of Article 81 (...)

On 8 July 2009, the Swedish Competition Authority (the SCA) imposed a fine of SEK 2 million (around € 181,000) on Rundvirke Poles AB, a telephone pylon manufacturer, for price-fixing and market sharing with its competitor, ScanPole Sverige AB, in relation to the procurement of overhead (...)

According to a press release of 3 July 2009, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) imposed a fine of a total of € 39.69 million for price-fixing on nine companies and executives active on the market for the manufacture of mortar, namely maxit Deutschland GmbH, Knauf Gips KG, Knauf Marmorit (...)

On 1 July 2009, the Court of First Instance (CFI) dismissed in its entirety an action by ThyssenKrupp Stainless AG (formerly Krupp Nirosta GmbH) against the European Commission’s re-adopted decision in the alloy surcharge antitrust proceeding. ThyssenKrupp had appealed against the re-adoption (...)

The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has imposed a € 1.2 million fine on several German pharmacy associations for calling on pharmacists to boycott the pharma wholesaler Gehe after Gehe’s parent company Celesio acquired the internet pharmacy Doc Morris in April 2007. The German pharmacy (...)

According to a press release of 12 June 2009, the Slovak Competition Authority has imposed fines on three foreign-owned banks operating in Slovakia, Slovenska sporitelna, a.s. (Erste Group), Ceskoslovenska obchodna banka, a.s. (Intesa Sanpaolo) and Vseobecna uverova banka, a.s. (KBC Groep) for (...)

On 10 June 2009, the French Competition Authority imposed fines totalling € 600,000 on 19 removal companies for their participation in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel on the market for removal services for military personnel. According to a policy of the French Ministry of Defence, (...)

Due to regulatory changes, since 1 April 2007, the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors (the Chamber) is no longer entitled to publish recommended minimum prices. In an order, dated 25 May 2009, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) established that some recommended prices continued to be available (...)

In a judgment given on 22 May 2009, the Court of Appeal clarified the application of the time limits relating to damages actions brought under section 47A of the Competition Act. Section 47A allows parties that have suffered damages, as a result of a competition law violation to claim (...)

On 15 May 2009, the English High Court rejected an appeal brought by Ian Norris, the former chief executive of Morgan Crucible plc against an order to extradite him to the United States to face charges of obstructing the course of an antitrust investigation conducted by the US Department of (...)

According to a press release of 7 May 2009, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) refrained from imposing a fine on two pharmaceutical companies, Grünenthal GmbH and Infectopharm GmbH, which had illegally agreed on prices for colistin-based antibiotics. Following Grünenthal GmbH’s leniency (...)

On 6 May 2009, the Court of First Instance (CFI) handed down its judgments in appeals brought by three of the companies fined by the Commission in 2003 for participating in a cartel on the market for industrial copper tubes. In its December 2003 decision, the Commission imposed fines totalling (...)

On 6 May 2009, the Court of First Instance (CFI) handed down its judgments in appeals brought by three of the companies fined by the Commission in 2003 for participating in a cartel on the market for industrial copper tubes. In its December 2003 decision, the Commission imposed fines totalling (...)

On 6 May 2009, the Court of First Instance (CFI) handed down its judgments in appeals brought by three of the companies fined by the Commission in 2003 for participating in a cartel on the market for industrial copper tubes. In its December 2003 decision, the Commission imposed fines totalling (...)

On 30 April 2009, Advocate General Mengozzi delivered his opinion in an appeal before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) brought by William Prym GmbH & Co KG and Prym Consumer GmbH & Co KG (Prym) against an earlier judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) largely upholding the (...)

On 23 April 2009, Advocate General Kokott gave her opinion on an appeal by Akzo Nobel NV and others against a judgment of the CFI of 12 December 2007. The CFI’s judgment confirmed a Commission decision of December 2004 upholding the fines imposed on the Akzo Nobel group for its participation in (...)

According to a press release of 23 April 2009, Cartel Damage Claims Hydrogen Peroxide SA (“CDC HP”), a Brussels-based part of CDC, has filed an action for damages before the Regional Court of Dortmund against six members of the hydrogen peroxide cartel, namely Evonik Degussa GmbH, Akzo Nobel (...)

The highest civil court in Germany, the Federal Court of Justice, has recently affirmed the admissibility of the private damages actions pending against participants in the German cement cartel. In May 2008, on appeal, the Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf had confirmed the admissibility of the (...)

According to recent reports, the Commission has issued an SO to Visa Europe Limited (“Visa”) with regard to the setting of multilateral interchange fees (“MIF”). An interchange fee is charged by an issuing bank (the customer’s bank) to an acquiring bank (the retailer’s bank) for sales transactions (...)

On 2 April 2009, Advocate General Bot issued his opinion in the appeal against the judgment of the CFI in the carbonless paper cartel case. This judgment upheld a Commission decision of December 2001, which found that eleven undertakings had infringed Article 81 EC by participating in a series (...)

On 31 March 2009, the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) handed down its judgment in an appeal by ArcelorMittal Luxembourg SA (formerly Arbed SA) against a decision of the European Commission to re-adopt its 1994 decision finding that there had been an illegal cartel in the steel beams sector (...)

In his opinion delivered on 26 March 2009 in the Austrian Bankscase, Advocate General Bot recommended that the ECJ quash an earlier judgment of the CFI and lower the fines imposed on certain Austrian banks for their involvement in cartel practices. The Advocate General upheld the appellants’ (...)

On 24 March 2009, the European Commission published a report setting out its preliminary views on the functioning of the current Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (IBER). The Commission originally adopted a block exemption covering the insurance sector in 1992. When the 1992 Regulation (...)

On 19 March 2009, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed an action brought by Archer Daniels Midland (“ADM”) against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) upholding the Commission’s decision in the sodium gluconate cartel case. In October 2001, the Commission imposed fines (...)

On 11 March 2009, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the French Competition Council’s decision of 30 December 2005 in which it found inter aliathat, by engaging in the exchange of confidential information, three French mobile operators, Orange (France Télécom Group), SFR (Vivendi Group) and (...)

On 4 March 2009, the President of the Paris Court of Appeal partially suspended the decision of the French Competition Council against fuel companies of the Chevron-Texaco, Total, Exxon Mobil and Shell groups. On 4 December 2008, the French Competition Council (which has now been replaced by (...)

On 4 March 2009, the Bulgarian Competition Authority fined three companies active in the market for construction and maintenance of wellness and spa facilities, as well as the relevant national trade association, BGN 345,000 (around € 180,000) for infringing the competition rules. The (...)

The Budapest Court of Appeals has recently confirmed a judgment of the Budapest Metropolitan Court in a case brought by Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Österreich (Austria), Alstom Holding S.A. (France) and Siemens AG (Germany) concerning a global cartel in the gas insulated switchgear market. The (...)

On 25 February 2009, the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed appeals brought against a decision of the French Competition Council of 18 December 2007 in which it imposed fines totalling more than € 2 million on twelve removal companies for their involvement in a price-fixing and market sharing (...)

In a judgment issued on 20 February 2009, the Finnish Market Court confirmed the Finnish Competition Authority’s (“FCA”) finding of a cartel affecting the market for distribution of motor vehicle spare parts in Finland. The Court found that five companies active in the wholesale of motor vehicle (...)

On 19 February 2009, Advocate General Kokott delivered her opinion in relation to a preliminary reference from a Dutch court regarding the requirements that must be satisfied to establish an anti-competitive concerted practice for the purposes of Article 81(1) EC. The case before the Dutch (...)

On 18 December 2008, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgment on an appeal brought by a number of French meat federations against an earlier judgment of the Court of First Instance that upheld a Commission decision imposing fines on them for violations of Article 81 EC. In (...)

On 16 December 2008, the French Competition Council imposed a record fine of € 575.4 million on eleven steel trading companies and the steel traders’ main professional trade association for their participation, from 1999 to 2004, in an elaborate and far-reaching cartel in the steel trading (...)

On 11 December 2008, the European Commission announced that it has sent a Statement of Objections to participants in an alleged cartel affecting the supply of power transformers. Power transformers are major electrical components whose function is to reduce or to increase the voltage in an (...)

On 18 December 2008, the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) rejected the appeal filed by General Química S.A, Repsol Química S.A and Repsol YPF S.A against a Commission decision of 21 December 2005 imposing a fine of € 3.38 million for their participation in a cartel affecting the rubber chemicals (...)

On 10 December 2008, the Regional Court in Bratislava annulled a decision of the Slovak Antimonopoly Office (SAO) imposing fines on the participants in a bid-rigging cartel affecting road construction in Slovakia. In December 2005, the SAO imposed a fine of SKK 1.47 billion (about € 49 million) (...)

On 4 December 2008, the French Competition Council imposed fines totalling € 41.1 million on fuel companies of the Chevron-Texaco, Total, Exxon Mobil and Shell groups for collusive tendering in the supply of aviation fuel in 2002. Total Réunion, Total Outre Mer, Chevron Products Company, Shell (...)

On 3 December 2008, the UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) announced that it was abandoning its prosecutions into the alleged price fixing of generic pharmaceuticals after the Court of Appeal declined to grant permission to appeal against the refusal of a Crown Court judge to allow the SFO to amend (...)

In a press release issued on 25 November 2008, the Greek Competition Authority announced that it has decided to impose a fine totalling approximately € 50 million on the Greek subsidiaries of oil companies BP and Shell for price-fixing in breach of Article 81 EC Treaty and the equivalent (...)

On 20 November 2008, in a ruling on a preliminary reference from the Irish Supreme Court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found that the object of an agreement between Irish beef processors designed to reduce overcapacity in the sector was anti-competitive. In its ruling, the ECJ followed (...)

According to a press release of 12 November 2008, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has fined Südsalz GmbH € 15.6 million for fixing prices in the regions of Southern Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and allocating sales territories in Southern Germany in the market for road salt. The (...)

By an order of 4 November 2008, which has recently become publicly available, the Hungarian Competition Authority (“GVH”) decided to terminate its investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by the Hungarian Chamber of Pharmacists (the “Chamber”) on the market for pharmaceuticals. The (...)

On 8 October 2008, the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) upheld a European Commission decision imposing fines totalling € 101.44 million on five companies for participating in a cartel on the market for electrical and mechanical carbon and graphite products. On 3 December 2003, the Commission fined (...)

On 23 September and 1 October 2008, the First President of the Paris Court of Appeal ordered that the obligation to pay the fine imposed by the French Competition Council on two plywood manufacturers, Plysoroland Établissement Allin, be suspended. On 21 May 2008, the Competition Council had (...)

On 23 September and 1 October 2008, the First President of the Paris Court of Appeal ordered that the obligation to pay the fine imposed by the French Competition Council on two plywood manufacturers, Plysorol and Établissement Allin, be suspended. On 21 May 2008, the Competition Council had (...)

By an order of 11 September 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed an appeal brought by UK company Coats against a judgment by the Court of First Instance (CFI) of 12 September 2007 concerning the Commission’s decision in the needles and haberdashery products cartel. The ECJ ruled (...)

On 4 September 2008, Advocate General Trstenjak gave her opinion on a preliminary reference from the Irish Supreme Court to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerning a case between the Irish Competition Authority, on the one hand, and the Beef Industry Development Society Ltd (BIDS) and (...)

The Austrian Competition Authority has recently imposed fines of € 70,000 on six driving schools in Innsbruck for price-fixing. One driving school owner could benefit from full immunity under the Austrian leniency programme. The information prompting the proceedings came from the Arbeiterkammer, (...)

On 20 August 2008, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office (the “Office”) imposed a fine of SKK 885 million (approximately € 29.5 million) on Slovak Telekom for abusing its dominant position on the market for providing telecommunications infrastructure, particularly with respect to the local loop. Slovak (...)

On 8 August 2008, the English High Court rejected a claim brought by a number of leading UK bookmakers that agreements concluded by a group of UK racecourses relating to the collective negotiation and licensing of media rights to horse-racing events infringed Article 81 EC and the Chapter I (...)

According to press releases of 17 and 24 July 2008, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has informed the German Football League (DFL) that the marketing model it has recently proposed concerning the joint selling of individual league members’ TV broadcasting rights to Bundesliga football (...)

On 8 July 2008, the Court of First Instance (CFI) handed down its judgment in an appeal by AC Treuhand AG against the European Commission’s decision of 10 December 2003 finding a breach of Article 81 EC on the market for organic peroxides. In its decision, the Commission found that the applicant (...)

On 4 July 2008, the Court of First Instance (CFI) issued an order dismissing an appeal by Wegenbouwmaatschappij J. Heijmans BV (W J Heijmans) against a European Commission decision of 13 September 2006 on the basis that it was not directly and individually concerned by the decision. On 13 (...)

On 2 July 2008, the Court of First Instance (CFI) issued an order dismissing an appeal brought by Polimeri Europa (“PE”) against a decision by the European Commission to provide a non-confidential version of the Statement of Objections in the synthetic rubber cartel case to Manufacture Française (...)

On 25 June 2008, the Regional Court in Brno annulled the decision of the Czech Competition Authority imposing fines on members of a gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) cartel. On 9 February 2007, the Czech Competition Authority imposed a fine amounting to CZK 979.221 million (approximately € 35 (...)

On 24 June 2008, the Paris Court of Appeal reduced and annulled some of the fines previously imposed by the French Competition Council on a number of building and civil engineering companies for having entered into a market-sharing agreement relating to public markets in the Île-de-France (...)

On 9 June 2008, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision finding that Tramontana SA and Excusiones Marítimas Puerto de Sóller SL were guilty of collusive behaviour in breach of the Spanish provision equivalent to Article 81 EC. Tramontana SA and Excusiones Marítimas Puerto de Sóller SL (...)

On 22 May 2008, German chemicals company Evonik Degussa GmbH (Degussa) lost its appeal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against a judgment of the Court of First Instance regarding a fine originally imposed by the European Commission in 2002 for its part in a cartel affecting the market (...)

On 15 May 2008, Advocate General Trstenjak recommended that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) reject an appeal by Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) against a judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) confirming an October 2001 Commission decision fining ADM and others for their involvement (...)

In two recently published judgments of April and May 2008, the Lazio Administrative Tribunal (“LAT”) has partially annulled two decisions of the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) finding that certain companies had concluded anti-competitive arrangements relating to the local public transport (...)

In a recently published judgment relating to an appeal from the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in a case concerning a paper wholesaling cartel, the German Federal Court of Justice has ruled on the calculation of unlawful profits for the purposes of setting cartel fines under German law. (...)

The Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) has recently accepted and made binding commitments proposed by the Italian Publishers’ Association (Associazione Italiana Editori) and nine publishers of school textbooks in the context of an investigation concerning alleged restrictive practices. The ICA (...)

On 23 April 2008, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued an apology to Wm Morrisons Supermarkets plc (Morrisons) and paid £ 100,000 in damages plus legal costs to settle a defamation case brought by the supermarket. The defamation case arose from a press release issued by the OFT on 20 (...)

On 17 April 2008, Advocate General Mazák delivered an opinion in relation to the joined appeals brought before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the Coop de France Bétail et Viande(FNCBV) and the Fédération nationale des syndicats d’exploitants agricoles(FNSEA), the Fédération nationale (...)

On 17 April 2008, the European Commission published a consultation paper on the functioning of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation. The Commission originally adopted a Block Exemption Regulation covering the insurance sector in 1992. When the 1992 Regulation expired in 2003, it was (...)

By judgment of 2 April 2008, the Budapest Regional Court of Appeal reduced the cartel fine that the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) had imposed on three associations of artists in 2005 for coordinating their members’ prices. While the GVH had originally imposed fines totalling HUF 26.5m (...)

In two recently published judgments of April and May 2008, the Lazio Administrative Tribunal (“LAT”) has partially annulled two decisions of the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) finding that certain companies had concluded anti-competitive arrangements relating to the local public transport (...)

On 26 March 2008, the Romanian Competition Council imposed a fine of over € 5,500 on the National Association of Dental Technicians for adopting price lists with respect to products manufactured by dental technicians and publishing them in its review. The Council noted that several provisions of (...)

On 13 March 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on a preliminary reference made by the Brussels Court of First Instance by finding that a Belgian law that prohibits dental services providers from advertising does not violate the EC competition rules. The Brussels court made the (...)

On 11 March 2008, the European Commission announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 32,755,500 on ten international removals companies for price fixing, market sharing and bid rigging in the field of international removals services in breach of Article 81 EC. The case was investigated at (...)

On 26 March 2008, the European Commission announced that it had launched an investigation into the use by Visa Europe Limited(“Visa”) of multilateral interchange fees (“MIF”) for cross-border sales transactions within the EEA and the imposition of a rule that all such transactions be honoured. The (...)

On 26 February 2008, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision finding that a professional association of architects active in a Spanish province had infringed the Spanish domestic provision equivalent to Article 81 EC. According to the decision, the professional association (...)

According to a press release of 20 February 2008, the German Federal Cartel office (“FCO”) has imposed fines totalling € 37 million on a number of manufacturers of drugstore articles, namely Henkel Wasch- und Reinigungsmittel GmbH, Schwarzkopf & Henkel GmbH, Sara Lee Deutschland GmbH and (...)

On 15 February 2008, the Competition Commission opened a consultation on its proposals to remedy the competition concerns identified in its investigation of the UK groceries market, which was concluded last year. In particular, the Competition Commission is recommending a reform of planning (...)

In a decision of 13 February 2008, the Austrian Supreme Court imposed a fine of € 120,000 on an undertaking in the foodstuffs sector for not complying with its obligation to give information to the Austrian Competition Authority. In the course of the investigation by the Authority, the (...)

On 12 February 2008, the European Commission carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of a central processing unit (CPU) manufacturer and a number of personal computer retailers. The Commission raids stem from concerns that the companies involved may have breached Article 81 EC in (...)

The Italian Council of State has recently ruled on appeals brought against the Italian Competition Authority’s decision in the jet fuel cartel case. In June 2006, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) fined six major oil companies – Eni, Esso, Kuwait, Shell, Tamoil and Total– for their (...)

The German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has recently fined three manufacturers of decor paper a total of € 62 million for infringing German competition law by engaging in the fixing of prices between August 2005 and early November 2007 and by agreeing on capacity closures in the second half of (...)

On 29 January 2008, the Paris Court of Appeal essentially confirmed the fines imposed by the French Competition Council in March 2006 in relation to a cartel affecting the heating, ceramic and plumbing appliances sector. In its decision, the French Competition Council had imposed fines on a (...)

On 21 January 2008, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office imposed a fine of SKK 350 million (approximately € 10 million) on sixteen companies from Austria, Germany, the Switzerland, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan for participating in a cartel for gas insulated switchgear (GIS). The product (...)

On 15 January 2008, the Paris Court of Appeal partially annulled an earlier decision of the French Competition Council fining several companies in relation to a market-sharing agreement pertaining to the construction and maintenance of water pipelines and sewers in the department of Morbihan. (...)

On 19 December 2007, the Finnish Market Court found seven construction companies guilty of having participated in a market-sharing and bid-rigging cartel in the asphalt sector in Finland. The Court found that the cartel had been active during the period of 1994-2001 and had affected public and (...)

In December 2007, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) imposed fines totalling almost € 208 million on seven companies active in the liquid gas sector and their managers for participating in an anti-competitive customer-sharing arrangement. The companies concerned, which represent (...)

On 18 December 2007, the French Competition Council imposed fines totalling more than € 2 million on twelve removal companies for their involvement in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel, but granted total immunity to two companies which had revealed the existence of the cartel. The (...)

On 12 December 2007, the Italian Council of State (ICS) issued a judgment relating to an earlier decision of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) concerning a cartel affecting the lottery games and betting sector in Italy. In November 2004, the ICA imposed fines totalling € 8 million on (...)

In a recently published judgment of 11 December 2007, the Italian Council of State (“ICS”) has handed down its ruling on the appeals presented by several companies and the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) against the judgment of the Lazio Administrative Tribunal (“LAT”) in the industrial gases (...)

In a recently published judgment of 11 December 2007, the Italian Council of State partially annulled the judgment of the Lazio Administrative Tribunal upholding the decision of the Italian Competition Authority in the Disinfectants cartel case. The Council of State entirely upheld the appeals (...)

On 21 November 2007, the Budapest High Court of Justice handed down a judgment essentially confirming all aspects of a cartel decision issued by the Hungarian Competition Authority (“GVH”) in 2004. In its judgment, the Court made interesting statements, in particular, concerning the use of (...)

In a recently published decision of 23 July 2007, the Dutch Competition Authority (“DCA”) imposed a fine on an ex-employee (Mr. X) of a company under investigation in a cartel case. Mr. X was frequently mentioned in the documents found during the investigation and, as a former commercial (...)

On 5 March 2007, the Romanian Competition Council fined four companies for operating a market-sharing arrangement affecting the supply of insulin in Romania. The total fine of € 22.6 million is the second highest ever imposed by the Romanian Competition Council, after the € 27 million fine (...)