Merger control – Standing: The General Court holds inadmissible an action lodged by a consumer association against a decision authorising a merger and refusing to refer it to a national competition authority (Association belge des consommateurs test-achats/Commission)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. GCEU, 12 October 2011, Association belge des consommateurs test-achats v. Commission, case T-224/10 The Belgian consumer association Test-achats had learned in 2009 of EDF's planned takeover of Segebel. The latter was the second operator on the electricity market in Belgium, behind Electrabel, controlled by GDF. Fearing anti-competitive coordination of the Belgian activities of EDF and GDF because of their common shareholding, Test-achachats expressed its concerns to the Commission, which replied that it would take its comments into account. It was only after this exchange that EDF notified the operation to the Commission. At the end of phase I, the