Charles Saumon

In a ruling dated 19 January 2010, the Paris Court of Appeal (the "Court") substantially reduced the highest fines ever imposed by the French Competition Authority (the "Authority") in the steel cartel case, from 575.4 million Euros to 74.1 million Euros. This judgement raises the question of (...)

In a ruling dated 10 November 2009, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a decision of the national competition authority (the "Authority") for excessive duration of the proceedings for the first time. This decision of the Authority related to alleged anticompetitive practices by several (...)

On 9 July 2009, the French Supreme Court (the "Supreme Court") partially quashed a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal ruling that two cement operators (Lafarge and Vicat) had abused their collective dominant position on the market for the supply and distribution of cement in Corsica. This (...)

On 8 April 2009, the Paris Court of Appeal (the "Court") confirmed the decision of the French Competition Council (the "Authority") dated 19 December 2007 to fine five of the world’s leading implantable heart defibrillator manufacturers (Biotronik, Ela Medical, Guidant, Medtronic and Saint Jude (...)

On 2 February 2009, the French Competition Council ("the Council") fined several agencies active in the temporary employment sector in France (Adecco, Adia, Manpower and VediorBis - "the Companies") for concerted practices. Context Temping enables businesses desiring more flexibility to use (...)

On 29 October 2008, the French French Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence) (the “Council") fined Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique, a cosmetics and personal hygiene products manufacturer, 17,000 Euros for having prohibited its selective distributors from selling products made by its (...)

Summary of the Decision Further to a leniency application and an investigation involving dawn raids and seizures, the French Competition Council (the "Council") fined six manufacturers active in the exotic plywood sector (Etablissements Mathé, Etablissements Guy Joubert, Etablissement Allin, (...)

On 6 May 2008, the Paris Court of Appeals (the "Court of Appeals") upheld a decision of the Conseil de la concurrence (the "Competition Council") in case 07-D-08 on 12 March 2007 (Decision 07-D-08) relating to practices in cement supply and distribution in Corsica. In its decision, the (...)

On 20 December 2007, the French Competition Council (the “Council”) fined five manufacturers (Chicco - Puériculture de France, Goliath France, Hasbro France, Lego and MegaBrands) and three distributors (Carrefour France, EPSE-JouéClub and Maxi Toys France) for entering into vertical agreements to (...)

On 2 October 2007, the Paris Court of Appeals (the "Court of Appeals") upheld a decision issued by the Conseil de la concurrence (the "Competition Council") in Decision n° 06-D-15 dated 14 June 2006 relating to practices implemented in the railway laying and maintenance sector. In this decision, (...)

On 13 September 2007, the French Competition Council issued a decision relating to anti-competitive practices in the market of harbour services dedicated to coal, following a complaint by the Société Générale Maritime ("Sogema"), a dock-work operator established in various harbours in France. (...)

On 25 April 2007, the French Competition Council ("Conseil de la concurrence") imposed interim measures on Electricité de France ("EDF"), which is historically the national operator, following a referral by KalibraXE. Background KalibraXE was created in August 2005. This new operator does not (...)

The Conseil de la concurrence recently issued an interim measures decision in which it ordered an injunction against the Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée (SNCM) on the grounds of Article L. 464-1 of the French Commercial Code. Background The public authorities in Corsica and the (...)

On 5 October 2006, the Conseil de la concurrence (French Competition Council) issued a decision in which it accepted to withdraw the litigation proceedings after three of the main companies active in the Hi-fi and home cinema equipment sector (Bose, Focal JM Lab and Triangle) agreed to (...)

NGK Spark Plugs France (NGK France), one of NGK Japan’s subsidiaries in the European Union, is the main supplier of plugs for two wheel vehicles in France. NGK France set up a selective distribution network in France based on a selective distribution framework agreement. It was argued that NGK (...)

Marketing Diffusion Prospective (hereinafter “MDP”), based in Mégève, is an authorised distributor of most of the major French perfume manufacturers. Alleging a breach of the selective distribution network to which it belonged, MDP lodged a complaint against its main competitor in this city, (...)

On 11 April 2006, the French Competition Council (“Conseil de la concurrence”) published a decision condemning door manufacturers active in two cartels. In this case, for the first time, the Conseil de la concurrence applied the leniency procedure for cartel whistleblowers. The leniency (...)

Background In 2003 Messageries Lyonnaises de Presse (MLP), a press distributor, filed a complaint with the French Competition Council (hereinafter "the Council") against Nouvelles Messageries de Presse Parisienne (NMPP) on the grounds that the latter was conducting an anti-competitive practice (...)

In a decision dated 5 December 2005, the French Competition Council (hereinafter “the Council”) found that Philips, Sony and Panasonic had infringed Article L. 420-1 of the French Commercial Code (equivalent to article 81 of the EC Treaty) as each of them had set up a vertical agreement with its (...)

Description of the impugned case The selective distribution agreement between BIC SPORT and its distributors contained a price list in appendix. According to the provisions of the agreement, this price list formed part of the agreement and was therefore binding for the distributors. In line (...)

Description of the impugned case Further to a decision of the French Competition Council imposing fines for resale price maintenance to seven companies active in the production and the distribution of portable electrical tool (Bosch, Peugeot Outillage Electrique, Black & Decker, Metabo, (...)

Description of the impugned case The President and the Sale Manager of the company were jointly and severally condemned with Hasbro, a toys manufacturer, for the following practices (along with distinct breach of the French regulation on invoicing). Hasbro imposed in 1988 and 1989 to its (...)

Description of the impugned case Virgin Loisirs imposed minimum resale prices to its wholesalers on its products (electronic games), by circulating recommended prices and applying commercial retaliation measures (interruption of deliveries) if those distributors refused to apply its price (...)