A French Court confirms its competence to control the enforcement of remedies offered by the parties to a concentration to the benefit of third parties (Parabole reunion / Canal +)

On 18 September 2007, the Paris Court of First Instance (the Court) adopted a judgement whereby it confirmed its competence to protect third party's rights resulting from a merger authorisation decision and enjoined the new entity resulting from the merger to abide by its commitments. Although this decision does not seem to have been subject to much publicity, it is, to the author's opinion, a very important one, in particular for third parties that may be affected by a concentration and whose concerns may not always be sufficiently taken into consideration by the controlling authority. On 30 August 2006, the French Minister of economy, finance and industry (the Minister) authorised the merger between TPS and Canal Sat, at the time the only two satellite broadcasting and television