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Dominant position: The Court of Justice of the European Union rules that the Slovak incumbent telecommunications operator, condemned by the European Commission for abuse of a dominant position on the market for wholesale broadband access services, could also be sanctioned by the Slovak NCA for abuse on the wholesale and retail markets for telephone and dial-up broadband internet access services (Slovak Telekom)Your search returned 965 results Review Case Comments, Alerts Unilateral Practices
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On 25 February 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered a judgment in Case C- 857/19 (Slovak Telekom a.s. v. Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky) which follows a reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Slovak Supreme Court. On 26 September 2005, (...)
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Abuse of economic dependence: The French Competition Authority again rejects the characterisation of an abuse of economic dependence and rejects the referral of the distributor for lack of evidence (Cartocad / Autodesk)On 3 March 2021, the Competition Authority made public a decision No. 21-D-04 adopted on 24 February 2021. about practices denounced in the publishing and professional software sales sector. In September 2020, Cartocad, a distributor of software products and related services on behalf of (...) -
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Predatory pricing: The French Competition Authority rejects a request for precautionary measures by an alternative supplier, but decides to continue its investigation to establish whether the dominant electricity supplier has engaged in predatory pricing in connection with the exit from regulated tariffs for sales to small non-residential customers (EDF)On February 18, 2021, the Competition Authority issued a decision no. 21-d-03 in favour of which it rejects the application for interim measures submitted by Plüm Energie, an alternative electricity supplier, denouncing a predatory pricing practice allegedly implemented by EDF on the occasion of (...) -
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Competence: The Paris Court of Appeal challenges companies of the same group ex officio in the Polynesian refrigerators case (Wane)Another new episode - the 9th - in the Polynesian refrigerator saga, and certainly not the last one... with, who knows, maybe a season 2 at the end... A quick reminder of the facts: as a result of the cassation, by judgment dated 4 June 2020, of the order of the first president dated 1 March (...) -
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Commitments: The European Commission accepts and makes binding the commitments of one pharmaceutical company to reduce the prices of six anti-cancer drugs by 73% for ten years, and sends a strong signal to other pharmaceutical companies about excessive pricing practices (Aspen)On 10 February 2021, the Commission accepted and made binding the commitments commitments submitted in their final versions on January 28, 2021 by Aspen Pharmaceuticals to address competition concerns about excessive pricing implemented since 2012 on six key cancer drugs in that patients’ lives (...) -
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Abus of dominant position: The Paris Commercial Court orders a search engine that abused its dominant position to pay damages of 1,270,000 euros to a telephone directory assistance company (Oxone / Google)On February 10, 2021, the 8th Chamber of the Paris Commercial Court issued a judgment. in which it finds that Google has committed several abuses of a dominant position, orders it to pay more than EUR 1 million in damages to a directory enquiry company and orders that that company’s access to (...) -
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Abuse of dominant position: The Paris Commercial Court again sanctions an abuse of dominant position committed by the publisher of a search engine and operator of an online advertising service (Google)There is still abuse (but still no economic dependence)! This could be in substance the summary of the judgment by which the Commercial Court, on 10 January 2021, once again punished an abuse of a dominant position committed by the publisher of a well-known search engine and operator of an (...) -
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Proportionality: The General Court of the European Union confirms the absence of interest of the European Union in pursuing the examination of a complaint by a competitor of a roof window manufacturer, since the extent of the investigations necessary would be disproportionate to the limited likelihood of finding a breach of Article 102 TFEU (Fakro)On 16 December 2020, the Court of First Instance of the European Union delivered a judgment in Case T-515/18 (Fakro v Commission).. The applicant, Fakro sp. z o.o., is a Polish company which manufactures windows and roofing accessories. On 30 April 2007, the Commission opened an ex officio (...) -
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Market test: The French Competition Authority publishes a request for review of the commitments made in 2014 by the incumbent railway operator, which is ahead of growing competition in the market for the distribution of train tickets (SNCF)On 17 December 2020, the Competition Authority made public a document from the SNCF for which the incumbent rail operator sets out the reasons why it is requesting to be relieved, in whole or in part, of four of the twelve commitments it has entered into in 2014 and which have been made binding (...) -
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Abuse of dominant position: The Court of Justice of the European Union extends to festivals its permissive case-law allowing collecting societies to impose a scale of royalties calculated on the basis of gross receipts from the sale of admission tickets to discotheques and on the receipts from television broadcasts intended for the general public (SABAM / Weareone.World, Wecandance)On 25 November 2020, the Court of Justice of the Union delivered a judgment in case C-372/19 (SABAM).which follows the reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal de l’entreprise d’Anvers (Antwerp Works Tribunal) concerning the remuneration charged to music festivals by a Belgian (...) -
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Abuse of exploitation: The Court of Justice of the European Union specifies, in a preliminary ruling, the conditions for the admission of royalty scales applied by copyright collecting societies (SABAM / Weareone.World, Wecandance)The scales of royalties applied by copyright collecting societies have already given rise to references for preliminary rulings before the Court of Justice on the basis of possible abuses of exploitation under Article 102 of the Treaty, in so far as they have de facto monopolies on the markets (...) -
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Essential facility: The General Court of the European Union confirms the decision of the European Commission finding an abuse of a dominant position by the Lithuanian incumbent railway operator, but reduces the fine imposed (Lietuvos geležinkeliai)On 18 November 2020, the Court of First Instance of the European Union delivered a judgment in Case T-814/17 (Lietuvos geležinkeliai v Commission).. The case follows the action for annulment of the decision of 2 October 2017.The Commission imposed a fine of EUR 27 873 000 on Lietuvos (...) -
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Barriers to entry: The General Court of the European Union upholds a decision of the European Commission in the case of the dismantling of a section of railway track in Lithuania to prevent the entry of a competitor (Lietuvos geležinkeliai)The Court of First Instance dismisses an action brought by the Lithuanian incumbent rail operator against a Commission decision of 2 October 2017 (case AT.39813 Baltic Rail), which had sanctioned him for dismantling infrastructure between Lithuania and Latvia that obstructed a contract between (...) -
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Abuse of dominant position: European Commission sends a statement of objections to an e-commerce platform accusing it of systematically using non-public commercial data from independent sellers using its marketplace to promote the sale of its own products to consumers in competition with those of these third party sellers (Amazon)On 10 November 2020, the European Commission indicated that it had sent a Statement of Objections to Amazon, alleging that Amazon had systematically used non-public commercial data from independent sellers using its market place to promote the sale of its own products to consumers in (...) -
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Environment: The French Competition Authority gives a reserved opinion on the draft decree introducing a tariff cap mechanism for access to non-hazardous waste storage facilitiesOn 29 October 2020, the Competition Authority made public an opinion n° 20-A-09 of 28 October 2020under the terms of which it issues a reserved opinion on the draft decree establishing a mechanism for capping the tariffs for access to non-hazardous waste storage facilities (ISDND), as instituted (...) -
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Market test: The French Competition Authority rejects the proposed commitments aimed at making the formal licensing of the manufacture and marketing of gamepad compatible controllers more transparent and non-discriminatory, and refers the case back for further investigation (Sony)By a somewhat laconic press release dated October 26, 2020the Competition Authority announced that the College had decided not to accept and therefore not to make binding the commitments proposed by Sony a year ago, the same commitments which were aimed at making the formal licensing of the (...) -
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Civil fault: The French Supreme Court confirms the existence of a civil fault consisting for the dominant operator in not having separated its masses of stakes in hard and online stakes (Betclic / PMU)By means of a judgment of 14 October 2020the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation has dismissed the appeal brought by GIE PMU againstjudgment delivered on 12 September 2018. by the Paris Court of Appeal (Pole 5, Chamber 4), in the dispute between it and Betclic, confirming the existence (...) -
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Private enforcement: The French Supreme Court confirms the existence of a civil fault attached to a dominant operator which did not separate its stakes into physical and online points of sale (Betclic / Pari Mutuel Urbain)On October 14, 2020, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal brought by the economic interest group Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) in the case between it and the company Betclic (see Alain Ronzano, Civil fault: The Court of Cassation confirms the existence of a civil fault attributable to the (...) -
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Intellectual property: The Paris Court of Appeal confirms almost entirely the decision requiring a search engine to negotiate with press publishers (Google)On 8 October 2020, Chamber 5-7 of the Paris Court of Appeal delivered its judgment. on Google’s appeal against the decision no. 20-MC-01 of 9 April 2020The Court of First Instance held that the Authority’s decision was not against Decision No 19-D-26 of 19 December 2019, as stated on the first (...) -
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Discrimination: The Paris Court of Appeal upholds essential part of the decision requiring a search engine to negotiate with press publishers as interim measures (Google / SPEM)It will be recalled that in a decision dated April 9, 2019, the Competition Authority had issued protective measures against Google in the context of a potential abuse of a dominant position (see our previous column, Discrimination : The French Competition Authority orders protective measures (...) -
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Abuse of dominant position: The French Supreme Court confirms in all respects the conclusions of the Court of Appeal concerning practices implemented by an infrastructure operator in the digital and audiovisual sector to prevent the installation of competing towers (TDF)On 16 September 2020, the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation handed down its ruling in the case of practices implemented by TDF to prevent the installation of competing pylons. It rejects all the pleas raised in the main appeal brought by TDF, but also the sole plea in the (...) -
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Abuse of dominant position: The French Supreme Court once again censors the Paris Court of Appeal in the case of access to the fixed telephony market for second homes (Orange / SFR)In a judgment delivered on 16 September 2020In a decision handed down on June 8, 2018, the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation once again censured the Paris Court of Appeal in the case of access to the fixed telephony market for secondary residences, following a so-called "stand alone" (...) -
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Rebates: The French Supreme Court validates the sanction of an exclusivity rebate pronounced by the Paris Court of Appeal for abuse of dominant position (TDF)Facts and procedure. The Competition Authority has been seized by an audiovisual services broadcasting operator for practices committed by TDF, the leading competitor on this market, which could potentially constitute an abuse of a dominant position. By decision of June 6, 2016, the (...) -
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Abuse of exclusion: The French Supreme Court upholds the judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal sanctioning a practice of exclusivity rebates but rejecting a practice of denigration in the terrestrial television broadcasting sector (TDF)In a decision no. 16-D-11 of 6 June 201620 million, the Competition Authority had sanctioned the company TDF, as well as its parents, for two practices of abuse of a dominant position (see F. Marty, Concurrences n° 3-2016, p. 9). The practices in question had taken place in the terrestrial (...) -
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Price squeeze: The French Supreme Court overturns a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal for failing to examine the impact of the victim’s conduct on the classification as an abuse of the company’s conduct while in a dominant position (SFR / Orange)In a judgment dated February 12, 2014, the Commercial Court ordered the company Orange ["Orange"] to pay damages of 51.38 million euros to the company SFR ["SFR"] for having abused its dominant position. In this case, whose facts date back to the early 2010’s, Orange offered its customers a (...) -
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Collective dominant position: The French Competition Authority sanctions pharmaceutical companies for abusing their collective dominant position in the French market for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration with a fine of 444 million euros (Novartis, Roche and Genentech)By Decision No. 20-D-11 of 9 September 2020The French Competition Authority has imposed a fine of 444 million euros on the Novartis group and the Roche/Genentech group (385 million for Novartis alone) for abusing their collective dominant position on the French market for the treatment of (...) -
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Access to facilities: Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe calls on the Court of Justice of the European Union to confine the Bronner judgment to the refusal of access to an opposing facility by an undertaking in a dominant position and to reject the concept of ’implied refusal of access’ (Deutsche Telekom, Slovak Telekom )On 9 September 2020, Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe delivered his Opinion. in Cases C-152/19 (Deutsche Telekom AG v European Commission) and C-165/19 (Slovak Telekom a.s. v European Commission). As the incumbent and leading telecoms operator in Slovakia, a subsidiary of Deutsche (...) -
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Collective dominant position: The French Competition Authority sanctions three pharmaceutical companies for denigration practices and for spreading alarmist, even misleading, discourse to public authorities (Novartis, Roche, Genentech)In a decision of September 9, 2020, the French Competition Authority ("the Authority") sanctioned Novartis, Roche and Genentech for abusive practices aimed at safeguarding sales of the drug Lucentis for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration ("AMD") to the detriment of the drug (...) -
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Fines: The French Supreme Court confirmes in the ’zinc case’ that the omission concerning the offender’s membership of a powerful group constituted a material error which the Court of Appeal was entitled to rectify (Umicore)In a judgment delivered on 2 September 2020The Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation, rejecting the appeals lodged by the Umicore group - the appeal lodged by the Chairman of the Authority, which was considered late, was declared inadmissible - not only confirms the judgment handed down (...) -
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Copyright: Advocate General Pitruzzella invites the Court to clarify the conditions under which a copyright management organisation in a de facto monopoly situation may be required to impose unfair royalties on organisers of music festivals which are liable to constitute an abuse of a dominant position (SABAM / W.W, WCD)On 16 July 2020, Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella delivered his Opinion in Case C-372/19 (SABAM).which follows the reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal de l’entreprise d’Anvers (Antwerp Works Tribunal) concerning the remuneration charged to music festivals by a Belgian (...) -
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Remedies: The European Commission invites interested third parties to submit their observations on commitments proposed by a pharmaceutical company to reduce prices in Europe for six key cancer drugs by an average of 73% (Aspen)On 15 July 2020, the following appeared in the OJEU a Commission Notice inviting interested third parties to comment on Aspen’s commitments to reduce prices in Europe for six key cancer drugs by an average of 73% in order to address the Commission’s concerns about excessive pricing, on the basis (...) -
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Exploitative abuse: The European Commission initiates a market test of commitments proposed by a pharmaceutical company to address its competition concerns about possible excessive prices for anti-cancer drugs (Aspen)The Commission is launching a market test to gather the views of interested parties onAspen ’s proposed commitments to address competition concerns relating to its pricing practices on a number of cancer drugs. Pending a comment on the substance of the case - the Commission is only at the stage (...) -
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Exclusionary abuse: The European Free Trade Association’s Surveillance Authority sanctions the incumbent operator in the Norwegian telecommunications sector for a strategy of price squeeze in the field of stand-alone mobile broadband services (Telenor)On 29 June 2020, the EFTA Surveillance Authority fined the Norwegian telecoms incumbent operator almost € 112 million for implementing a margin squeeze strategy against its competitors in the downstream market for stand-alone broadband services. Telenor is vertically integrated and as such (...) -
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Barriers to entry: The French Supreme Court dismisses an appeal against the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, which had confirmed in all respects the sanction of three eviction practices for the access to the Eiffel Tower site (TDF)In a judgment delivered on 10 June 20205 million for the sole eviction practice implemented on the market for the renewal of the agreement for the occupation of the Eiffel Tower site. In its decision, the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation, ruling in a panel that did not give any (...) -
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Exclusionary abuse: The French Supreme Court rejects an appeal against a judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal which validated the sanction, by the French Competition Authority, of an undertaking for a late and partial transmission of essential information in order to answer to invitations to tender and for having put in place anticompetitive prices (TDF)In a judgment dated June 10, 2020, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) dismissed an appeal against the judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal (the "Court of Appeal"), which had itself confirmed, in a judgment dated October 12, 2017, Decision No. 15-D-10 of June 11, 2015 by which the (...) -
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Digital platforms: The European Commission wants to strengthen ex ante regulation of the major digital platforms and to provide a new competition tool to impose behavioural or structural injunctions on them without any prior finding of abuse and without fines or damages actionsOn 2 June 2020, the Commission launched a broad initiative on the regulation of digital platforms, based on the draft Digital Services Act. In this context, the Commission is launching two parallel and complementary consultations concerning, on the one hand, a draft ex ante regulation of the (...) -
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Dominant collective position: The French Competition Authority rejects a complaint from a television broadcasting platform claiming to be a victim of attempted foreclosure (Molotov)In a decision of 30 April 2020, the Competition Authority (the Authority) rejected the substantive referral of the Molotov company (Molotov) and, consequently, the associated request for interim measures filed against the M6 and TF1 groups. Molotov is a platform that broadcasts television (...) -
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Commitments : The European Commission is submitting for consultation commitments concerning the markets for TV decoder and modem chipsets (Broadcom)It will be recalled that, on 16 October 2019, the Commission imposed interim measures for the first time since 2004. In the present case, the Commission suspected Broadcom, a supplier of components for television decoders and modems, possibly dominant in three separate markets, namely the (...) -
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Intellectual property: The French Competition Authority requires the dominant operator of search engines to negotiate with publishers and news agencies the remuneration due under neighbouring rights for the transfer of their protected content (Google)Seized in November 2019 by AFP and several professional organisations representing press publishers, denouncing the practices implemented by Google consisting of diverting, if not the letter, at least the spirit and objectives of law no. 2019-775 of 24 July 2019, which created a neighbouring (...) -
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Discrimination: The French Competition Authority orders protective measures in favour of press agencies and publishers against an undertaking likely to have abused its dominant position on the French market for general search services (Google / Syndicat des éditeurs de la presse magazine, Alliance de la presse d’information générale and Agence France-Presse)On 9 April 2020, the Competition Authority issued a first decision granting interim measures in a new Google case which is already attracting a great deal of interest in the press, online communication services to the public and online advertising sectors. The case begins with the adoption of (...) -
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Commitments: The Competition Authority accepts and makes binding the commitments of the former incumbent home parcel delivery operator regarding the calculation of its discounts on parcel deliveries (La Poste)On 2 April 2020, the Competition Authority adopted Decision No 20-D-06 in whose favour it accepts and makes binding the commitments de la Poste SA and closes the substantive proceedings initiated by Kiala France, Kiala SA, UPS France and UPS Inc. concerning practices in the parcel delivery (...) -
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Rebates: The French Competition Authority accepts commitments proposed by the incumbent operator in the parcel delivery sector (La Poste)More than ten years after the opening of proceedings against La Poste for practices in the parcel delivery sector, and at a time when business to consumer parcel delivery is facing a massive influx of parcels due to the health crisis, the Competition Authority has published a decision in which (...) -
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Essential facilities: The Commission does not intend to change its doctrine on the application of essential facilities theory to dominant digital platformsShould major digital platforms be considered critical infrastructure? The Commission clarifies this in an answer to a question from MEPs. It will be remembered that, on 29 January 2019, Olivier Guersent, the new Director General of DG Competition in Brussels, spoke before the French Senate (...) -
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Critical infrastructures: The Commissioner for Competition clarifies, in response to a parliamentary question, the implementation conditions of the essential facilities doctrine to online platformsThe theory of critical infrastructure, which stems from the decision-making practice of the American Supreme Court with the Terminal Railroad Association decision of 1912 (United States v. Terminal Railroad Ass’n, 224 U.S. 383 (1912)), has been adopted by European case law, even though the (...) -
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COVID-19: The European Competition Network issues a joint statement on the application of competition law during the Covid-19 crisisIn the context of the health crisis, and following several publications by national competition authorities aimed at informing undertakings about the temporary relaxation of the competition rules during the Covid-19 crisis, the European Competition Network issued on 23 March 2020 a joint (...) -
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Fines: The French Competition Authority fines the dominant operator in the sector of designing and marketing electronic products and its two wholesalers €1.24 billion for implementing practices affecting ’intra-brand’ competition (Apple, Ingram Micro, Tech Data)The news broke over the weekend: the Competition Authority is sanctioning Apple and its two wholesalers to the tune of... 1.24 billion euros!!!! Excuse the little... And this record fine... just for practices affecting, it seems, "intra-brand" competition and which, if we understand correctly, (...) -
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Exclusionary abuse: The European Commission fines a hotel group for geographical-based discrimination between customers (Melià)The European Commission is penalising a Spanish hotel chain for introducing contractual clauses in its agreements with tour operators which are liable to introduce geographical discrimination between different consumers on a national basis. The Commission launched an investigation in February (...) -
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Abuse of economic dependance: The French Competition Authority fines an electronic product manufacturer for an abuse of economic dependence towards its distributors (Apple, Tech Data, Ingram)In a decision dated 16 March 2020 (not available at the time of writing; see press release), the Authority fined Apple €1.1 billion for practices concerning the distribution of its products (excluding iPhones) in France. Its wholesalers Tech Data and Ingram Micro were also fined €76.1 million and (...) -
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Abuse of economic dependence: The French Competition Authority fines a company for abuse of economic dependence in the distribution of computer products and consumer electronic equipment (Apple, Tech Data, Ingram Micro)On 16 March 2020, after seven years of investigation, the French Competition Authority fined Apple and two wholesalers, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, a record amount of nearly €1.14 billion for practices implemented in the distribution of Apple-branded products. Text The publication of this (...) -
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Commitments: The European Commission makes legally binding commitments taken by the Romanian incumbent operator of gas transport to facilitate natural gas exports (Transgaz)The European Commission has taken a decision making binding the commitments offered by the Romanian natural gas transmission system operator. The commitments will lead the Romanian natural gas transmission system operator to increase its export capacity to Hungary and Bulgaria and to ensure (...)
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