The EU CFI overturns the EU Commission's decision to block a merger in the packaging equipment sector addressing the issues of conglomerate effects and leveraging (Tetra Laval / Sidel)

Killick, James; Powell, Mark D.

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25 Oct 2002

The EU CFI overturns the EU Commission’s decision to block a merger in the packaging equipment sector addressing the issues of conglomerate effects and leveraging (Tetra Laval / Sidel)

KEYWORDS

Reference

EU Court of First Instance, Tetra Lavel / Sidel, Case T-80/02, 25 October 2002 (French)

For the third time this year, and the second time this week, the European Court of First Instance ("CFI") has overturned a decision of the EC Commission to block a merger. Once again, the CFI criticized the Commission’s factual findings and its analysis. Within hours of the judgment, Commissioner Monti announced his intention to push through the major package of reforms to the EC merger control procedure (which have been under discussion for some time) by the end of December. He also announced that as from Wednesday, he had put merger control under the personal supervision of the Director General, Philip Lowe. The judgment is also important for its analysis of the Commission’s theories of conglomerate effects and leveraging – theories on which the Commission relied to veto the

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Authors

James Killick
White & Case (Brussels)

Belgium 53 contributions 54584 visits
Mark D. Powell
White & Case (Brussels)

Belgium 48 contributions 36545 visits

Quotation

James Killick, Mark D. Powell, The EU CFI overturns the EU Commission’s decision to block a merger in the packaging equipment sector addressing the issues of conglomerate effects and leveraging (Tetra Laval / Sidel), 25 October 2002, e-Competitions October 2002, Art. N° 37058

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