June 1998

General antitrust

 The EU Court of Justice states that a Member State conferring undertakings an exclusive right to provide a mooring service and charge it at a higher price to foreign shipping companies is not unlawful (Corsica Ferries)
European Court of Justice (Luxembourg)
Luxembourg 331 contributions 109558 visits
Case C-266/96 Corsica Ferries France SA v Gruppo Antichi Ormeggiatori del Porto di Genova Coop, ari and Others* 1. Article 177 of the Treaty does not make reference to the Court subject to there having been an inter partes hearing in the proceedings in the course of which the national (...)

Anticompetitive practices

 The European Commission approves a license agreement between two Swedish brewers companies (Pripps/Tuborg)
European Commission - DG COMP (Brussels)
Belgium 5 contributions 2103 visits
"Pripps/Tuborg"* On 26.6.1998 the Commission approved a license agreement between Tuborg International A/S (“Tuborg”) and AB Pripps Bryggerier (“Pripps”) for Tuborg beer in Sweden, but only after the license had been made nonexclusive and a second licensee had been appointed. Pripps (...)

The EU Court of Justice states that the public law status of a national body does not preclude the application of competition law (Italian Republic)
European Court of Justice (Luxembourg)
Luxembourg 331 contributions 109558 visits
Case C-35/96 Commission of the European Communities v Italian Republic* 1. In view of the general scheme of the rules relating to the action for failure to fulfil obligations, the fact that a Member State is constrained to defend itself in two separate cases in which the facts are the same (...)

The EU Commission acknowledges the voluntary commitment offered by the EACEM to reduce stand by power use of TVs and VCRs for environmental purposes (European association of consumer electronics manufacturers)
Irish Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (Dublin)
Ireland 2 contributions 508 visits
"EACEM scheme to reduce stand by power use of TVs and VCRs receives a comfort letter because of its environmental benefits"* The European association of consumer electronics manufacturers (EACEM) and sixteen of its members, all major manufacturers of televisions and video recorders, made a (...)

Unilateral Practices

 The EU Court of Justice holds that a Member State infringes competition law if it adopts any law which enables an undertaking on which it had conferred rights to abuse its dominant position (Chemische Afvalstoffen Dusseldorp)
European Court of Justice (Luxembourg)
Luxembourg 331 contributions 109558 visits
Case C-203/96 Chemische Afvalstoffen Dusseldorp BV and Others v Minister van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer* 1. Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156, and Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and (...)

State Aid

 The French Judiciary Supreme Court rules that the claimants had not demonstrated that the tax constituted State aid and failed to submit argument on a possible existing aid (Huttepain Maine Aliments / Guyomarc’h Vertou / Nantes Sanders / Marcel Braud)
University of Aix-Marseille
France 132 contributions 449999 visits
Background The French State had levied a special tax for cereal storage during the 1986-1987 and 1987-1988 campaigns. Various agricultural companies claimed the reimbursement of the tax before the national first instances courts on the basis of Article 88 (3). Some of these first instance (...)

Regulatory

 The OECD holds a roundtable on relations between regulators and competition authorities
OECD - Competition Division (Paris)
France 313 contributions 1435348 visits
Key documents: Executive Summary with key findings, Detailled Summary of the discussion, Background note Executive summary, by the Secretariat In the light of the written submissions, the background note and the discussion, the following points emerge: (1) A large and growing number of (...)

The OECD holds a roundtable on competition policy and procurement markets
OECD - Competition Division (Paris)
France 313 contributions 1435348 visits
Key documents: Executive Summary with key findings, Detailled Summary of the discussion, Background note Executive summary, by the Secretariat In the light of the background paper, the country submissions and the oral discussion the following points emerge: (1) Procurement - the (...)