R
Romania: The Court of Justice of the European Union considers that a strict interpretation of the national legislation, as upheld by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, prohibiting absolutely the interruption of the limitation period by acts adopted after the decision to open an investigation, appears liable to jeopardise the effective implementation of the EU competition rules (Whiteland Import Export)Your search returned 476 results Review Case Comments, Alerts International
- ← Previous
- Next →
-
On 21 January 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered a judgment in Case C-308/19 (Consiliul Concurenţei v Whiteland Import Export SRL) following a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice. The present case raises the question (...)
-
R
USA: President Donald J. Trump signs a permanent resolution reauthorizing antitrust criminal sanctionsOn October 1, President Donald J. Trump signed a permanent resolution reauthorizing theAntitrust Criminal PenaltyEnhancement and Reform Act ( ACPERA). It should be recalled that criminal sanctions in the United States are regular and play an important role in deterring competition offences (...) -
R
Spain: The Spanish competition authority (CNMC) imposes symbolic fines on an association of stevedoring companies and six trade unions for including provisions which have been considered restrictive of competition in a collective bargaining agreement organising the recruitment of stevedores (IV Framework Agreement for the Dock Work Sector or “IV Acuerdo para la regulación de las relaciones laborales en el sector de la estiba portuaria”) (Acuerdo Marco de la estiba)Stevedoring services have had a special regime in Spain since 1986, when they were historically qualified as an essential state-owned public service. According to this regime, only those professionals who were employees of the public stevedoring company of each port (“Sociedades Estatales de (...) -
R
USA: The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California receives a complaint from the developer of a famous video game accusing the company hosting the game in its application store of monopolization (Epic Games / Apple)WillApple ’s business model falter? In the United States, the American giant is exposed to an antitrust lawsuit whose outcome is very uncertain. Epic Games, the developer of the famous video game Fortnite, has decided to wage a risky battle against the apple company. The latter is accused of (...) -
R
USA: The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reverses the decision of the Northern District Court of California in the smartphone chip case (Qualcomm)Thunderclap in the United States! The ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals completely overturns the ruling issued a few months earlier by the Northern District Court of California in the Qualcomm case(FTC v. Qualcomm, No. 17-cv-00220, Dkt. 1490 (N.D. Cal. May 21, 2019)). The FTC’s (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Nacional annuls the fine imposed by the Spanish competition authority on a car dealer because the decision did not contain sufficient evidence on the participation and liability of the undertaking, thus making judicial review difficult (Chevrolet dealerships)In 2016, the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) fined seven Chevrolet car dealers and a consultancy firm for exchanging commercially sensitive information and fixing prices between January 2011 and January 2012 (Decision of the CNMC of 28 April 2016, case S/DC/0505/14 Concesionarios (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The New Caledonian Competition Authority adopts its first decision on interim measures and indicates under which conditions cooperation between competitors can be tolerated in times of health crisis (OPT-NC)By Decision No 2020-MC-01 of 2 July 2020In the case of the Office des Postes et Télécommunications de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (OPT-NC), the New Caledonian Competition Authority issued a protective measure against the Office des Postes et Télécommunications de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (OPT-NC). Strictly (...) -
R
Germany: The Bundesgerichtshof provisionally upholds the Bundeskartellamt’s finding of abuse of a dominant position by combining personal data of its users from different sources (Facebook)It will be remembered that in a decision of 6 February 2019The Bundeskartellamt had prohibited Facebook from collecting and using personal data on third-party services. While Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram could continue to collect data from their respective users, it was now required to do so (...) -
R
USA: The U.S. Department of Justice reviews a white paper submitted by a professional organization representing newspaper publishers in which it accuses a search engine of abusing its dominant position in the online search marketDavid va-t-il renverser Goliath ? Un tel exploit, certes rare à l’échelle de l’histoire, n’est pas tout à fait inédit. La prouesse de David, enfermée dans le saint livre qu’est la Bible hébraïque, n’a d’ailleurs pas échappé aux éditeurs de presse américains. Ces derniers, semblant se souvenir de l’exploit du (...) -
R
Spain: The Commercial Court of Madrid grants damages amounting to €2.6 million in application of the “umbrella effect” doctrine (Realia)The Commercial Court of Madrid has granted damages amounting to €2.6 million in a follow-on action based on the decennial reinsurance cartel. Although the claimant was not a customer of the reinsurance companies part of the cartel, the Commercial Court condemned the cartelists to pay damages in (...) -
R
Spain: The Spanish Supreme Court confirms that undertakings not active in the market affected by the cartel can be part of the infringement (Textil Planas Oliveras)The Spanish Supreme Court has overturned a judgment of the Audiencia Nacional, finding that the decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (“CNMC”) did not err in sanctioning a company that participated in the infringement actively and knowingly, even though it does not compete in the affected (...) -
R
New Caledonia : The New Caledonian Competition Authority has expressed its concerns about the exemption mechanism allowing credits in the aviation and tourism sector in the event of cancellation due to the coronavirus crisis and has made recommendations to the Congress and the GovernmentOn 6 May 2020, the New Caledonian Competition Authority made public a series of urgent recommendations that it addressed to the Congress and the Government of New Caledonia regarding a draft deliberation on the adaptation of the rules relating to the financial conditions for the termination of (...) -
R
COVID-19 : The French Competition Authority ensures that the distribution of respiratory assistance equipment in French Guiana and the French West Indies will not be hindered by exclusive import practices and offers companies support to secure their cooperation agreementsIn a press release dated 6 April 2020The French Competition Authority announced that it has closed a blitz investigation into exclusive import practices in the medical equipment sector for hospitals in French Guiana and the French West Indies. Following a report made by a Guyanese company on (...) -
R
United Kingdom: The UK Competition Authority issues guidelines on business cooperation during the epidemic (COVID-19 guidance)In line with the brief recommendations published by the European Commission and the ECN, the UK competition authority - the CMA - issued on 25 March 2020 guidelines in which it describes the approach it intends to take to business-to-business cooperation during the VIDOC crisis-19 and only in (...) -
R
USA: The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit applies the Noerr-Pennington doctrine in an antitrust case on the futures market (U.S. Futures exchange / Board of Trade of the City of Chicago)Anti-trust law, whose provisions are of public order, belongs to a matter imbued with imperative nature. It is therefore very difficult for companies to escape its grasp when the loops of Section 1 or Section 2 of the Sherman Act close around them. At most, they can try to use the residency (...) -
R
Italy: The Italian Supreme Court takes decisions on the starting point of the limitation period and the probative force of a decision of the Italian Competition Authority pronounced within the framework of a commitment procedure (Uno Communications / Vodafone)In a judgment of 27 February 2020, the Italian Court of Cassation handed down a very interesting ruling on the starting point of the statute of limitations and the evidentiary force of a decision of the Competition Authority pronounced in the context of a commitment procedure. The case follows (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Nacional annuls the fine imposed by the Spanish Competition Authority on the national refrigerated road transport association due to the lack of evidence of participation in the conduct after 2008 (ATFRIE)In 2015, the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) fined ATFRIE and 12 refrigerated transport companies for colluding to fix prices in the refrigerated road transport sector in Spain from April 1993 to December 2012 (Decision of the CNMC of 25 June 2015, case S/0454/12, Transporte frigorífico). (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona partially upholds the appeal lodged by three envelopes manufacturers against eight first instance judgments which awarded damages in follow-on claims based on the envelope cartel decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (Planeta, Misiones Salesianas, Bankoa...)The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona has partially overturned eight judgments of two sections of the Juzgado de lo Mercantil of Barcelona which had awarded damages to several claimants in follow-on actions based on the Spanish envelope cartel case. The Audiencia Provincial partially accepts (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Provincial of Madrid overturns the first instance judgments which granted damages quantified by the claimants and grants damages but based on the lower alternative quantification contained in a defendant’s expert report (Cámara de Comercio, Obras Misionales Pontificias)The Audiencia Provincial of Madrid has overturned two judgments of two different Commercial Courts of Madrid which had dismissed the follow-on claims brought by alleged victims of the envelope cartel. The first instance courts had found that the claimants and their expert reports did not (...) -
R
Morocco: The Moroccan telecoms regulator fines the incumbent operator 310 million euros for abusing its dominant position in the implementation of local loop unbundling (Morocco Telecom)On January 17, 2020, Morocco’s telecoms sector regulator - the National Telecoms Regulatory Agency (ANRT) - adopted a landmark decision in more than one respect, Decision ANRT/CG/n°01/2020. 310 million (MAD3.3 billion) for having abused its dominant position in the implementation of local loop (...) -
R
Marocco: The National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency of Marocco issues its first decision of sanction under the new competition law and heavily fine the incumbent operator (Maroc Telecom)In a decision dated January 17, 2020, the Moroccan telecommunications regulatory authority, the ANRT, imposed a very substantial penalty of MAD3 billion and MAD300 million (approximately ’310 million) on the incumbent operator Itissalat-Al-Magrib (hereinafter "Maroc Telecom") for having abused (...) -
R
Belgium : The Belgian Competition Authority extends the scope of the simplified merger procedureAdopted on 8 January 2020 by the Management Committee of the Belgian Competition Authority (ABC), the complementary rules aimed at broadening the scope of the simplified merger procedure entered into force on the same day of their publication in the Moniteur belge of 20 January 2020. In (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The New Caledonian Competition Authority obtains that appeals against its non-contentious decisions are brought directly before the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal (Decree No. 2019-1502)Following steps taken by the New Caledonian Competition Authority (ACNC), the French State has decided to reform the code of administrative justice so that appeals against ACNC’s non-contentious decisions (concentration, commercial area, restrictive commercial practice) can be brought directly (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The New Caledonian Competition Authority issues its first sanction decision regarding the maintenance of exclusive import agreements (Kone Elevators, Otis)On 26 December 2019, the newly established New Caledonian Competition Authority issued its first sanctioning decision.. This concerns a practice aimed at maintaining exclusive import agreements, sometimes accompanied by a non-competition clause, in violation of Article Lp. 421-2-1 of the (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Provincial of Valencia grants in second instance 5% compensation for damages in a follow-on action based on the European Commission Decision in the truck cartel case (CNH Industrial NV)The Audiencia Provincial of Valencia has partially upheld a first instance judgment awarding damages equivalent to 5% of the purchase price of the truck (totalling 3,985 euros) and quashed the judgment just in respect of the interests, finding that they should have been added from the purchase (...) -
R
USA: Eighty-two academics file an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Federal Trade Commission’s position in a pay-for-delay case (Impax Laboratories)The Impax case that we have recently discussed in these columns has bounced back in the courts (Concurrences No. 2-2019, Art. No. 90540, p. 208). The pharmaceutical company seeks to challenge the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) assessment that the agreements entered into by the company were (...) -
R
Netherlands: The Dutch Competition Authority imposes a fine of €1.84 million on a company for employees deleting chat conversations during a dawn raid (WhatsApp)On 11 December 2019, the Dutch competition authority, ACM (Autoriteit Consument & Markt) announced that it had imposed a fine of EUR 1.84 million on an undertaking for obstructing one of its investigations. During a dawn raid, employees of the company visited, which is suspected of (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The New Caledonian Competition Authority issues two decisions aming at preventing exclusive distribution of lift brands (Sodimas, Intec ; Kone Elevators, Otis...)In December, the young Competition Authority of New Caledonia (hereafter ACNC) issued two important decisions that will mark the future of the elevator sector and, far beyond, the future of exclusive product import practices in New Caledonia. For a long time now, the "high cost of living" has (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The Competition Authority of New Caledonia is in favour of the generalised cap on the margins of all companies offering products or services as of 1 October 2019 (Support for the growth of the New Caledonian economy)On 9 December 2019, the New Caledonian Competition Authority published an opinion no. 2019-A-05 of 6 December 2019 on the preliminary draft law of the country to support the growth of the Caledonian economy, which envisages in article 42 of the text to introduce the more liberal "quality-price (...) -
R
French Polynesia: The first president of the Court of Appeal of Papeete revokes an authorization order of the judge of freedom and detention for a manifest violation of the contradictory (J.L. Polynésie / Polynesian Competition Authority)What is happening in the kingdom of the Polynesian Competition Authority (bis)? By Order dated December 4, 2019 by the first president of the Court of Appeal of Papeete, the APC faces another setback, the third in the institution’s very young history (the first contentious decision of the APC (...) -
R
French Polynesia: The Polynesian Competition Authority issues a decision to dismiss the case in the surveillance and guarding sector (Haumani Sécurité / Jurion Protection, Tahiti Vigiles)What happens in the realm of the Polynesian Competition Authority? On November 28, 2019, the PCA issued its second contentious decision. since its creation in 2015, which is dated 26 November 2019. Two decisions in all... And while the first one - the decision of August 22, 2019 - is (...) -
R
USA: The Northern District Court of Georgia receives a complaint filed by an online advertising company accusing a well-known search engine company of monopolizing the market (Inform / Google, Alphabet, Youtube)Is the antitrust vise around Google tightening in the United States? A previous chronicle might have raised doubts about this (Concurrences No. 3-2019, art. No. 91291, p. 211). We remember that in Google vs Marshall’s Locksmith Service, the search engine had finally managed to escape antitrust (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona reduces the amount to be paid to a collecting society, finding that the fees requested from a concert promoter were abusive based on an earlier decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (SGAE)The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona has partially quashed the judgment of a Juzgado Mercantil of Barcelona which awarded collecting society SGAE € 115,398 corresponding to unpaid IP rights. The Audiencia Provincial found that the amount claimed by SGAE was inflated due to the application of (...) -
R
Italy: The Italian Supreme Court and the Court of Pescara, Ancona, Taranto, Napoli and Verona rule once again on the validity of omnibus bank guarantee contracts with regard to the competition law (ABI)The dispute over the validity of omnibus bank guarantee contracts under anticompetitive practice law does not weaken, as the Italian Court of Cassation and certain substantive courts have once again ruled on applications for the nullity of guarantee contracts entered into with banking (...) -
R
United States: The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice for the first time in its history uses arbitration to challenge merger between two suppliers of aluminium car body manufacturer under the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 (Novelis / Aleris)Since the Supreme Court’s 1985 decision in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, 473 U.S. 614 (1985), the question of whether antitrust law and arbitration form an impossible couple no longer arises. The decision had clearly answered this question by stating, inter alia, that "once (...) -
R
Germany: The Court of Düsseldorf suspends the Bundeskartellamt’s decision sanctioning an abuse of exploitation consisting in data gathering practices (Facebook)On 26 August 2019, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf) granted a stay of execution of the decision adopted by the Bundeskartellamt on 7 February 2019 in summary proceedings. under which it found that Facebook had abused its dominant position on the social (...) -
R
Polynesia: The Polynesian Competition Authority sanctions, within a first contentious decision, an abuse of a dominant position linked to the practice of excessive prices (Wane)In a decision released on August 22, 2019The Polynesian Competition Authority has for the first time imposed sanctions for abuse of a dominant position. This is even the first contentious decision adopted by the PCA. Moreover, this decision, which is not without some reservations, sanctions (...) -
R
French Polynesia: The Polynesian Competition Authority imposes a €2 Million fine (FCP 235 Million) to a distributor for imposing a discriminatory and excessive pricing on his beverage suppliers for the provision of refrigerated exposure (Wane)Beverage suppliers complained about the new financial conditions adopted by the Wane group from 2015 to be remunerated for the installation of beverages in its refrigerated cabinets. The monthly billing per door was significantly higher than in the past. The Wane group, which had several (...) -
R
Spain: The Audiencia Nacional grants the interim suspension of a decision of the Spanish Competition Authority regarding the exclusion from tenders of public contractors fined for market-sharing agreements (EYM Instalaciones)In a Decision of 14 March 2019 (case S/DC/0598/2016, Railway electrification and electromechanics), the Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) decided for the first time to activate the prohibition to participate in public tenders, foreseen in the Spanish Public Procurement Act (Act 9/2017), for (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The Competition Authority of New-Caledonia issues an opinion on the procedure for renewing the public service delegation relating to the electricity distribution concession for the Municipality of Noumea (Electricity distribution concession for the Municipality of Noumea)The New Caledonian Competition Authority (hereinafter "ACNC") was approached in January 2019 by the municipality of Nouméa regarding the procedure for the renewal of the public service delegation for the electricity distribution concession of the municipality. On 18 July 2019, the New Caledonian (...) -
R
Italy: The Italian Administrative Supreme Court confirms the fine imposed on two pharmaceutical companies and rules on the extent of the judicial control with regard to the transposition of Directive 2014/104/EU on actions for compensation (Avastin / Lucentis)In a judgment of 15 July 2019, the Conseil d’État closed the Avastin/Lucentis case by confirming the conviction of the pharmaceutical laboratories Roche and Novartis for having implemented an agreement aimed at promoting the marketing of Lucentis - an on-label drug used in ophthalmological (...) -
R
Italy: The Italian Supreme Court rules on the starting point of the limitation period in antitrust law and the value of the decisions of the Italian Competition Authority in follow-on actions (OMISSIS)By an order of 5 July 2019, the Italian Court of Cassation returned to the question of the starting point of the limitation period in anti-competitive practice law and the value of the decisions of the Authority for the Protection of Competition and the Market (hereinafter ’AGCM’) in follow-on (...) -
R
Spain: The Spanish Supreme Court finds that the joint proposal, submitted by several cotton ginning companies to the public administration, to include in a Royal Decree a limitation of the subsidies to certain companies does not breach competition rules, insofar as there is no sign of fraud or deceit in the information submitted to the authorities (Eurosemillas, Algodonera del Sur, Agrupación Española de Desmotadora de Algodón)In three recently issued judgments the Spanish Supreme Court reduced the fines imposed by the Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) on eight undertakings active in the cotton ginning sector after excluding from the single and continuous infringement the conduct consisting of market foreclosure (...) -
R
US: The Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit confirms that search engines, leaders in the online search market, benefit from an antitrust immunity (Google / Marshall’s Locksmith Service)Can a search engine escape antitrust prosecution when it acts as an intermediary on the Internet by providing false information on the location of companies? In other words, can the Sherman Act be overridden when a search engine merely takes over location information provided by third party (...) -
R
Competition policy : The competition authorities of the G7 countries and the European Commission reach agreement on the role of competition law in the digital economy (Common Understanding on Competition and the Digital Economy)Meeting in Chantilly within the framework of the G7 chaired by France, the competition authorities of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States), as well as the Commission, published on July 18, 2019 an agreement - Common Understanding. - on the role (...) -
R
Exclusion strategy: The Belgian Competition Authority imposes a fine of €1 million on the Belgian Order of Pharmacists for trying to hinder the development of a parapharmaceutical group (MediCare-Market / Belgian Order of Pharmacists)On 13 June 2019, the Belgian Competition Authority (ABC) issued a very interesting decision, dated 28 May 2019The Commission’s Competition College found against the Order of Pharmacists for attempting to hinder the development of the MediCare-Market group and imposed a fine of EUR 1 million on (...) -
R
Italy: The Courts of Belluno, Perugia, Torino, Roma, Velletri, Pesaro, Spoleto, Forlì and Siena and the Italian Supreme Court rule on the conformity of security bond contracts with competition law (ABI)In Italy, the substantive courts once again ruled on applications to annul the guarantee contracts entered into with banks which, to that end, had reproduced a contractual scheme distributed in 2003 by the Italian Banking Association (hereinafter ’ABI’), some provisions of which had been (...) -
R
ICN: The International Competition Network adopts a framework on Competition Agency Procedures (Framework on Competition Agency Procedures)The International Competition Network (ICN), a network established in 2001 and comprising 138 member competition authorities, as well as non-governmental advisors from civil society, has recently adopted a new tool for cooperation: the Framework on Competition Agency Procedures (hereinafter (...) -
R
US: The US Supreme Court rules that mobile Apps users are direct buyers and have standing to sue the platform that distributes them (Apple / Pepper)The news of the quarter in U.S. antitrust law is undoubtedly marked by the case of Apple Inc. v. Pepper (587 U.S., 2019). In a decision handed down on May 13, 2019, the United States Supreme Court was called upon to rule on the question of whether iPhone users could act on the basis of the (...) -
R
New Caledonia: The Constitutional Council partially annuls a law relating to price regulation on which the New Caledonia Competition Authority had expressed reservations regarding infringements on freedom of enterprise and competition (Société Magenta Discount)By Decision No. 2019-774 QPC of 12 April 2019, the Constitutional Council ruled on the conformity with the Constitution of several provisions of Law No. 2018-10 of 7 September 2018 amending the provisions of the Commercial Code applicable in New Caledonia, Law No. 2016-15 of 30 September 2016 (...)
- ← Previous
- Next →