The EU General Court rejects an appeal against a €28M fine imposed by the Commission for breach of EU gun jumping rules (Canon)

On 18 May 2022 [1]the European General Court rejected Canon’s appeal against a €28 million fine imposed by the European Commission in 2019 for its breach of EU gun-jumping rules, just a few months after a similar judgment [2] therefore vindicating the Commission’s aggressive stance on such breaches. Background The Commission’s fine was imposed on Canon due to its use of a warehousing structure in its 2016 acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems (TMS). Such a structure involves splitting a sale into two steps—the target business is first transferred to an interim buyer who temporarily acquires the target from the seller on behalf of the ultimate buyer, without the need for regulatory clearance. The ultimate buyer then acquires the target after all required regulatory clearances have been