February 2004

Description of the impugned case The agreements by MB-Autó (the importer of Mercedes-Benz type motor vehicles in Hungary) with its dealers / distributors contained a clause whereby the delaers / distributors were obliged to request the written approval of MB-Autó to discounts provided to (...)

JFTC surcharged participants in the bidding construction works called by Iwamizawa-city* The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on 5 February, ordered 91 entrepreneurs to pay surcharge regarding the bid-riggings for construction works called by Iwamizawa City (Hokkaido Prefecture) based on (...)

Consent Decision on Kimmon Mfg． Co．, Ltd* The Fair Trade Commission decided to initiate a hearing for Kimmon Mfg. Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the Respondent”) on August 25, 2003. Since then the examiners had conducted the hearing, and on January 23, 2004, the Respondent proposed (...)

The operation Invista is a company which is under the sole control of E.I. DuPont and is globally carrying out the fibers and intermediate goods businesses of E.I. DuPont. Invista was the biggest manufacturer of integrated fibers and intermediate goods in 2002. It has a subsidiary in Turkey. (...)

The operation On 23 October 2004 the acquisition by Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) of Capital Radio Productions Limited (CRPL) was notified to the Irish Competition Authority (ICA). SRH is active in the radio and publishing business in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, where it owns (...)

Outcome of IBA Health appeal* The Court of Appeal today gave its judgment in the hotly anticipated IBA Health case, which centres on the test to be applied by the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") when deciding whether it must refer transactions to the Competition Commission ("CC") for further (...)

The operation By letter dated 11 February 2004, the French Minister of Economic Affairs cleared a merger after a Phase I procedure where the Group Bayard Press acquired the publishing group Milan. Competition problems were raised for the reason that both Parties were active on the market of (...)

Brief description of the facts and legal issues A French law of 1997 determined the ownership status of a high-voltage electricity network. As a result, the reserves previously built up by EDF (free of tax) over the period from 1987 to 1996 became superfluous. Some reserves were directly (...)

On 25 January 2006, the Commission decided to bring before the European Court of Jutsice (“ECJ”) an action against Belgium for failure to comply with a Commission’s decision declaring a State aid incompatible with the common market (see IP:). On 24 April 2002, the Commission had ruled that (...)

"Enforcement of State aid control in the banking sector: Bankgesellschaft Berlin AG"* On 18 February 2004, following an extensive investigation, the Commission decided to approve the restructuring aid for the ailing group Bankgesellschaft Berlin AG worth almost € 10 billion. This amount (...)

Brief description of the facts and legal issues Professional associations for the agricultural sector filed a claim, in summary proceedings, for the suspension ("référé-suspension") of a ministerial order ("arrêté") setting out different methods for implementing the tax. They argued, inter (...)

A producer of mail sacks that was one of the suppliers of the USPS sued the latter for terminating, without justification, their supply Agreement. The USPS has a dominant position in several postal markets in the US and was challenged under Section 2 of the Sherman Act (i.e., attempt to (...)

USPS v. Flamingo Industries* In 2004, the US Supreme Court issued a decision in an antitrust case brought by Flamingo Industries against the United States Postal Service (USPS). Flamingo manufactured the sacks used by postal workers to hold the non-parcel mail that they carry and deliver to (...)

"Market analyses under the New Regulatory Framework for electronic communications: context and principles behind the Commission’s first veto decision"* 1. Introduction On 20 February 2004 the Commission took a decision requiring the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (Ficora)to (...)

Key documents: Executive Summary with key findings, Detailled Summary of the discussion, Background note Executive summary, by the Secretariat In light of the written submissions, the background note and the oral discussion, the following points emerge: Inefficiency (1) Inefficiencies (...)