The German Federal Supreme Court rules that infrastructure usage charges may infringe competition law where the pricing system is non-transparent, largely defies rational justification and does not comply with the statutory pricing system (DB Netz / Deutsche Bahn)

Jungermann, Sebastian

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21 Sep 2021

The German Federal Supreme Court rules that infrastructure usage charges may infringe competition law where the pricing system is non-transparent, largely defies rational justification and does not comply with the statutory pricing system (DB Netz / Deutsche Bahn)

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Reference

German Federal Supreme Court, DB Netz / Deutsche Bahn, Case No. KZR 88/20, Judgement, 21 September 2021 (German)

On 21 September 2021, the German Federal Supreme Court ruled on infrastructure usage charges in its second judgement concerning track path prices (KZR 88/20 - Trassenentgelte II) and formulated the following guiding principles: a) If a market-dominating company which has a significant infrastructure facility and is thus in a position to decisively define the conditions of competition on the downstream markets applies a non-transparent pricing system which largely defies rational justification, does not comply with the statutory pricing system and is therefore unlawful, the aptitude to obstruct required by Article 102 (1) TFEU may lie in the fact that it distorts the operating conditions of competition on the downstream markets as a whole in this way. b) The judge of fact may

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Author

Sebastian Jungermann
Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein (Frankfurt)

Germany 3 contributions 105 visits

Quotation

Sebastian Jungermann, The German Federal Supreme Court rules that infrastructure usage charges may infringe competition law where the pricing system is non-transparent, largely defies rational justification and does not comply with the statutory pricing system (DB Netz / Deutsche Bahn), 21 September 2021, e-Competitions September 2021, Art. N° 108218

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