Dominique Berlin

A prohibited operation Incompatibility decisions are not numerous in the Commission’s practice (according to the statistics as at 31 March 2015, out of 5 796 transactions notified since the beginning of the control, only 24 incompatibility decisions have resulted). The Deutsche Börse - New York (...)

It may be recalled that on 12 December 2012, the Court of First Instance confirmed the Commission’s decision imposing a fine of €20 million on Electrabel for having acquired sole control of Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) without prior authorisation from the Commission. For the record, it will (...)

While the original nature of operations involving investment funds was that they never, or hardly ever, posed horizontal or vertical problems, but simply questions relating to conglomerate effects, where problems did exist, this has not been the case for a number of years now. Over time, and (...)

The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Life Technologies Corp, a California-based US company specialised in the supply of laboratory instruments and consumables, by its competitor, also US-based but based in Massachusetts, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. which is active (...)

On 30 September 2013, the European Commission approved the acquisition of Morpol, the largest salmon processor in the European Economic Area (EEA), by Marine Harvest, the largest salmon farmer in the EEA, both of Norway. Marine Harvest is a Norwegian company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, (...)

This is not the first time that the medical sector has been the subject of consolidation and attention by the Commission (to name but a few, see Commission Decisions of 5 October 2011 in Case COMP/M.6091 - Galenica / Fresenius Medical Care / Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma JV or of 8 (...)

Franprix Leader Price Holding (FLPH), a subsidiary of the Casino Guichard Perrachon Group (Casino), itself France’s third-largest food retailing group (more than 10 000 stores of all sizes), had notified the Authority of the proposed acquisition of sole control of NFL Distribution, whose entire (...)

This is not the first time that dairy products have been the subject of consolidation and the Commission’s attention (see, inter alia, Decision of 8 August 2001, Case COMP/M.2399, Friesland Coberco/Nutricia, Decision of 10 June 2003, Case COMP/M.3130, Friesland Coberco/Nutricia, Case (...)

The Commission has published a number of documents representing changes to both the basic Regulation and the Merger Implementing Regulation. These texts were made available for public comment in a consultation that took place between 27 March and 19 June 2013. A desire to simplify procedures (...)

It will be remembered that the Court of First Instance refused to grant EDF the suspension of the Commission’s measure requiring it to fulfil certain commitments within a specified period. The decision of 12 November 2009, Case COMP/M. 5549 (EDF/Segebel) had ordered as a condition of (...)

The publication of this decision, almost two years old, has been delayed (8 April 2014). Admittedly the decision is not thin (123 pages) but that is not the main point. Indeed, the commitments offered by Glencore and accepted by the Commission were published much earlier (one year), and there (...)

This decision is undoubtedly one of the most important, quantitatively (more than 300 pages), issued by the Commission following an in-depth investigation of the stainless steel product markets. The operation itself consisted in bringing together the two largest operators on these markets. (...)

CJEU (Grde Ch.) of 6 November 2012, cases C-553/10 P and C-554/10 P. Commission v Éditions Odile Jacob We may recall the dispute between Éditions Odile Jacob, the Commission and the Lagardère group over the latter’s sale of certain publishing assets to the Wendel group in 2003. This divestiture (...)

CJEU (Grde Ch.) of 6 November 2012, Case C-551/10 P Éditions Odile Jacob v Commission Following the authorisation of the operation referred to in the previous point, the applicant brought an action before the Court of First Instance in July 2004 for annulment of the compatibility decision (Case (...)

Orderly. President Trib. UE, 11 Oct. 2012 aff. T-389/12 R, EDF v. Commission By its decision of 12 November 2009 (Case COMP/M. 5549 EDF v Segebel), the Commission had, in its decision of 12 November 2009 (Case COMP/M. 5549 EDF v Segebel) authorised on the basis of Article 6(1)(b) and (2) of (...)

Orderly. Trib UE (3rd ch.) 21 September 2012, case T-501/10, Telecom ItaliaBroadcasting v Commission By Commission Decision 2004/311/EEC of 2 April 2003 (Case COMP/M.2876 - Commission Decision 2004/311/EEC of 2 April 2003 (Case COMP/M.2876 - Commission Decision 2004/311/EEC)), the Commission (...)

Dec. 11-DCC-150, Dec. 11-DCC-150 of October 10, 2011, regarding the acquisition of sole control of Elle-et-Vire cooperative by the Agrial cooperative group Two operations in one ---- The operation, formalised by a merger treaty dated 15 February 2011, appeared to relate only to the merger by (...)

Dec. Eur. comm. art. 7, § 3 R.139/2004 of 25 July 2012, Sofiproteol v. Actifs Doux, case COMP/M. 6696. We are all aware of the setbacks of the French poultry group Doux, which has been in the news all summer, particularly through its receivership proceedings. Having found a partial buyer, in (...)

Aut. conc. dec. no. 12-D-12 of 11 May 2012 relating to the situation of the Colruyt Group with regard to I of Article L. 430-8 of the Commercial Code The cases of application of Article L. 430-8 of the Commercial Code are not legion (for the equivalent at the European level, see Commission (...)

Eur. Comm, 30 March 2012, IAG/BMI, Case COMP/M.6447 BMI is a company owned by the subsidiary LHBD Holding Limited ("LHBD") of Lufthansa. BMI’s aviation activity is broadly divided into three dimensions: the first, based at London Heathrow, comprises its main routes ("BMI Mainline"), the second, (...)

Eur. comm., dec. art. 8, §1 R.139/2004, 4 May 2011, Votorantim/Fischer/JV, case COMP/M.5907 Two groups of Brazilian origin, Votorantim on the one hand and Fischer on the other, had decided to combine their orange juice activities in a joint venture to which their respective subsidiaries (...)

Eur. Comm. dec. art. 6, §2 Reg. 139/2004, 1st June 2011, BASF/Ineos/Styrene/JV, case COMP/M.6093 The undertakings BASF SE (hereinafter ’BASF’) of Germany and INEOS Industry Holdings Limited (hereinafter ’INEOS’) of Switzerland, part of the group controlled by the INEOS Group, proposed to acquire (...)

Trib. UE (ord. prés.), 24 November 2011, Édition Jacob v. Commission, aff. T-471/11 R New episode in the proceedings between Éditions Odile Jacob, the Commission and the Lagardère group concerning the latter’s sale of certain publishing assets to the Wendel group in 2003. This divestiture took (...)

Aut. conc. dec. no. 11-DCC-134 of September 2, 2011 relating to the acquisition of exclusive control of assets of the Louis Delhaize group by Groupe Bernard Hayot In this case, the Authority had to assess an operation consisting of the acquisition by GBH (franchisee of the Carrefour group for (...)

Dec. Eur. Comm. Art. 8, §1, R.139/2004, of 19 October 2011, Seagate/Samsung Hard Disk Drive Activity, COMP/M.6214 Phase II authorisation decisions without conditions or burdens are becoming less rare. However, they are still of interest to the extent that one wonders what may have changed the (...)

Eur. Comm, 13 July 2011, UPM/Myllykoski and Rhein Papier, case COMP/M.6101 The paper industry continues its European consolidation. At issue in the present case was the proposed acquisition of 100 % of the Finnish Myllykoski Group (in fact, this group included a German company, Rhein Papier, (...)

Comm. eur., dec. art. 6, §2 R.139/2004 of 26 January 2011, Intel/McAfee, case COMP/M.5984 Less exotic than heavy or fine chemicals, the electronic components and IT that are part of our daily lives have given rise to a decision in which the Commission has largely been able to implement its grid (...)

eur. comm. dec. art. 6(2) Reg. 139/2004, 30 November 2010, BASF/Cognis, case COMP/M.5927 As the time limits for publishing decisions are becoming longer and longer, it is only recently that the decision in the BASF/Cognis case has been made available on the Commission’s website. The transaction (...)

Ex-post competition law control and violation of competition provisions Dominique BERLIN 1. The last topic chosen by the organizers of this day should allow to take stock of the litigation relating to "texts and decisions" that infringe competition law. In a way, it is the logical (...)

In the first article of a round-table discussion dedicated to «State aids in the banking and financing sectors» (Colloque Banques, Finances & Concurrences, 30 November 2006), Professor Dominique Berlin gives an overview of the implementation of State aid rules and regimes in these sectors and (...)