February 1997

Anticompetitive practices

 The EU Court of Justice states that the block exemption regulation is not designed to regulate the activities of third parties who operate on the market outside the framework of distribution agreements (Fontaine)
European Court of Justice (Luxembourg)
Luxembourg 332 contributions 111514 visits
Case C-128/95 Fontaine SA and Others v Aqueducs Automobiles SARL* Regulation No 123/85 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of motor vehicle distribution and servicing agreements concerns only contractual relations between suppliers and their approved (...)

The OECD holds a roundtable on resale price maintenance
OECD - Competition Division (Paris)
France 313 contributions 1449421 visits
Key documents: Executive Summary with key findings, Detailled Summary of the discussion, Background note Resale price maintenance (RPM) specifies the final price that retailers charge consumers. This roundtable focused on the use of RPM for books, newspapers and similar cultural products. (...)

Mergers

 The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit holds that the government failed to meet the geographic market requirement, and therefore, failed to establish that a hospital merger would have anticompetitive effects (Mercy / Finley)
Senator Mitch McConnell (Washington)
United States 11 contributions 1522 visits
Mercy Health Center (Mercy) and Finley Hospital (Finley) are the only two general acute care hospitals in Dubuque, Iowa. The two hospitals agreed to merge and form a partnership, Dubuque Regional Health Services. On June 10, 1994, the government filed a complaint seeking injunctive relief (...)

State Aid

 The EU Court of Justice states that a measure granting a tax concession by public authorities to an undertaking constitutes State aid although it does not involve a transfer of State resources (FFSA)
European Court of Justice (Luxembourg)
Luxembourg 332 contributions 111514 visits
Case T-106/95 Fédération Française des Sociétés d’Assurances (FFSA) and Others v Commission of the European Communities* 1. A judgment of the Community judicature which merely confirms the law which was in principle known to the applicant when it brought its action cannot be regarded as a (...)