Tim Kasten

According to a press release and case report of 27 February 2020, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) found in a preliminary assessment that requests for special rebates of furniture retailer XXXLutz could have been abusive. After the retailer changed its conduct, the FCO decided not to (...)

On 16 January 2020, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) handed down a decision in which it found that mergers and acquisitions did not amount to an abuse of a dominant position. In the case at hand, Towercast (a company active on the market of terrestrial broadcasting in France) (...)

On 20 December 2019, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) announced that it had imposed a € 150 million fine on Google for abusing its dominant position in the market for search advertising. This is the fourth antitrust fine imposed on Google by a competition authority of the EU in less than (...)

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal upholds the Ofcom’s record £50 million fine against Royal Mail for price discrimination against Whistl, a competitor in the market for the processing of bulk mail.On 12 November 2019, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) upheld the UK communication (...)

On 16 October 2019, the European Commission adopted a decision ordering Broadcom to stop applying certain provisions contained in agreements with six of its main customers in the TV and modem chipset markets. According to the Commission’s press release, Broadcom was prima facie found to be (...)

On 27 September 2019, the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) and the Federal Network Agency (“FNA”) jointly published guidelines for the control of abusive practices in the electricity generation and wholesale sectors, which also address the interpretation of certain aspects of the Regulation on (...)

On 26 August 2019, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (the “Court”) granted Facebook’s request for an injunction against the immediate application of measures imposed by the German Federal Cartel Office (the “FCO”) arising from the FCO’s finding in February 2019 that Facebook abused its dominant (...)

On 18 July 2019, the Commission announced that it had adopted a decision against Qualcomm for abusing a dominant position in the market for 3G baseband chipsets, and imposed a fine of € 242 million. According to the Commission, Qualcomm’s prices to certain key customers were below its costs with (...)

On 17 July 2019, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority and the German Federal Cartel Office closed their respective abuse of dominance investigations against Amazon, after Amazon committed to changing contract terms. Throughout the years 2017 and 2018, both competition authorities had (...)

On 28 June 2019, the Swedish Patent and Market Court of Appeal (the “Appeal Court”) upheld a ruling of the Swedish Patent and Market Court that rejected an action brought by the Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket or “KKV”) against Nasdaq Stockholm Aktiebolag and several affiliated (...)

On 26 June 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced that it had opened a formal investigation to assess whether integrated circuit (“IC”) provider Broadcom may be abusing its dominant position, in breach of Article 102 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In parallel, (...)

On 13 May 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced that it had issued a decision imposing a fine of just over € 200 million on AB InBev for breaching Article 102 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). According to the Commission, AB InBev abused its dominant (...)

On 3 April 2019, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (the “Court”) upheld a 2017 decision of the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) prohibiting exclusivity clauses in the event ticketing market. In a large number of its contracts with event organisers, ticketing service provider CTS Eventim used (...)

On 20 March 2019, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced that it had issued a decision imposing a € 1.49 billion fine on Google for breaching Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. According to the Commission, Google abused its dominant position in online (...)

On 6 February 2019, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) concluded administrative proceedings concerning the data gathering practices of Facebook Inc., Facebook Ireland and Facebook Germany (together “Facebook”). The FCO found that Facebook abused its dominant position by making the private use (...)

On 31 January 2019, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) ordered Google to review the rules of its Google Ads service. The FCA’s Order follows a complaint by Amadeus, an operator of online enquiry services – such as “a directory that provides call or text numbers for business/ residential (...)

On 21 January 2019, the Swedish Patent and Market Court (the “Court”) upheld a decision of the Swedish Competition Authority (“SCA”) that required an operator of recycling stations for household waste to extend an agreement with its competitor. The Swedish Packaging and Newspapers Collection (...)

On 17 December 2018, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted a decision imposing a fine of € 77,068,000 on Bulgarian Energy Holding (“BEH”), its gas supply subsidiary Bulgargaz, and its gas infrastructure subsidiary Bulgartransgaz (together, the “BEH Group”) for infringing Article 102 of (...)

On 13 December 2018, the General Court (the “GC”) issued a judgment upholding in large part an October 2014 decision of the European Commission (the “Commission”) against Slovak Telekom, in which it found that Slovak Telekom had abused its dominant position by engaging in a constructive refusal to (...)

On 7 December 2018, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted a decision accepting a number of commitments from TenneT to address the Commission’s competition concerns regarding TenneT’s conduct that allegedly limited southward capacity at the electricity interconnector between Western Denmark (...)

On 29 November 2018, the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal upheld a 31 January 2018 decision of the Danish Competition Authority (“DCA”) finding that CD Pharma abused its dominant position on the Danish market by charging excessive prices for the sale of oxytocin, a hormone that acts as a (...)

On 25 September 2018, the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) imposed a symbolic fine of € 1,000 on the Italian Authors’ and Publishers’ Association (the “SIAE”) for abusing its dominant position. The SIAE is a collective management organisation under Directive 2014/26/EU on collective (...)

On 18 July 2018, the European Commission adopted a decision fining Google €4.34 billion for abusing its dominant position by allegedly engaging in various illegal practices regarding the Android mobile platform. According to its press release, the Commission found that Google holds a dominant (...)

On 11 July 2018, the Hellenic Competition Commission (“HCC”) adopted a decision (the “Decision”) fining Glaxosmithkline (“GSK”) a total of €4.1 million for abusing its dominant position in relation to two pharmaceutical products : Imigran (an anti-migraine product) and Lamictal (an anticonvulsant). (...)

On 24 May 2018, the Commission adopted a decision accepting a number of commitments from Gazprom to address the Commission’s competition concerns regarding conduct by Gazprom that allegedly restricted the free flow of gas at competitive prices in Central and Eastern European gas markets. The (...)

On 24 January 2018, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced that it had imposed fines totalling € 997.439 million on chipset producer Qualcomm for abusing a dominant position contrary to Article 102 TFEU. While the public version of the decision has not yet been published, the (...)

On 20 December 2017, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) imposed a fine of € 25 million on Janssen-Cilag laboratory and its parent company Johnson & Johnson for preventing and then restricting the development of a generic version of its analgesic Durogesic (the “Decision”). Ratiopharm, now (...)

On 13 December 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) dismissed the appeal lodged by telecommunication operator Telefónica against the General Court’s (“GC”) judgment largely upholding a 2013 Commission decision, which imposed a fine on Telefónica for agreeing not to compete with (...)

On 13 December 2017, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) fined Telecom Italia S.p.A. (“TIM”) and Vodafone Italia S.p.A. (“Vodafone”) € 3.7 million and € 5.8 million respectively for abusing their dominant position on the market for wholesale bulk SMS services. The ICA considered that each mobile (...)

On 29 November 2017, the European Commission published a communication titled “Setting out the EU approach to Standard Essential Patents” (the “Communication”) in which it seeks to offer guidance and recommendations in relation to the licensing, valuation and enforcement of Standard Essential (...)

On 6 September 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) issued its long-awaited judgment in the Intel case (Case C-413/14 P), setting aside the General Court’s (“GC”) judgment. The GC must now re-assess the legality of the Commission’s decision in light of the ECJ’s ruling. Intel was (...)

On 29 June 2017, the Dutch Competition Authority (“DCA”) published the non-con dential version of a decision of 22 May 2017 imposing a €40.95 million fine on Dutch rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (“NS”) for abusing its dominant position in the context of a tender for public transport services (...)

On 16 May 2017, the General Court offered guidance on the concepts of vexatious action and abuse of regulatory procedure in the context of a judgment upholding a Commission decision to reject a complaint brought by Agria Polska and four other companies active in the parallel importation of (...)

On 6 April 2016, Advocate General (“AG”) Wahl gave an opinion advising the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) on the criteria to determine whether a Latvian royalty collecting society had abused its dominant position by charging excessive prices in breach of Article 102(a) TFEU. The matter came (...)

On 22 March 2017, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) accepted commitments from the copyright-collecting society NUOVOIMAIE (“NI”) aimed at addressing ICA’s concerns that NI had abused its dominant position on the Italian market for management and intermediation services in the audio-visual (...)

On 22 March 2017, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) fined ENGIE (formerly known as GDF-Suez) € 100 million for abusing its dominant position on the retail gas supply market by using the customer database and business infrastructure it inherited from its former monopoly status in order to (...)

On 13 March 2017, the European Commission launched a market test on commitments submitted by Gazprom aimed at addressing concerns over its alleged abuse of dominance on Central and Eastern European gas supply markets. In April 2015, the European Commission announced that it had sent a (...)

On 16 January 2017, details of a request by a Portuguese court for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) were published in the Official Journal on questions relating to abusive discriminatory pricing under Article 102(c) TFEU. The request was issued in (...)

On 21 November 2016, the Competition College of the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) rejected a request of Brouwerijen Alken-Maes (“Alken-Maes”) to suspend the acquisition of Brouwerij Bosteels (“Bosteels”) by Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (“AB InBev”). AB InBev’s takeover of Bosteels was not subject (...)

On 20 October 2016, Advocate General Wahl rendered his opinion on Intel’s appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) against the judgement of the General Court, which had upheld a decision of the European Commission of 13 May 2009 imposing a fine of € 1.06 billion for abuse (...)

On 18 October 2016, the French Supreme Court upheld the decision of the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) which had fined the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis over € 40 million for having abused its dominant position on the market for the active ingredient clopidogrel. Sanofi-Aventis was (...)

On 20 September 2016, the European Commission announced that it had imposed a € 6 million fine on Altstoff Recycling Austria (“ARA”) for abusing its dominant position on the Austrian waste management market by blocking competitors from entering the Austrian market between 2008 and 2012. Austrian (...)

On 15 September 2016, the General Court upheld the Commission’s decision accepting commitments proposed by Thomson Reuters with a view to remedying a finding of an abuse of a dominant position in the market for consolidated real-time data feeds, in breach of Article 102 TFEU. The Commission had (...)

By a decision of 24 May 2016, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced that it had terminated proceedings against Deutsche Bahn AG after having accepted several commitments. In 2014, the FCO initiated an investigation against Deutsche Bahn AG and reached the preliminary conclusion that (...)

On 19 May 2016, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) imposing a fine on the French telecoms operators Orange and SFR for having abused their dominant position in the mobile call termination market. The Court nevertheless granted the operators a (...)

On 20 April 2016, the European Commission confirmed it issued a Statement of Objections (“SO”) to Google concerning the imposition of restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators. The investigation was formally opened in April 2015. Google now has until July 2016 to (...)

On 8 April 2016, the Commission announced that it had adopted a decision to relieve Deutsche Bahn of its obligation to comply with a commitments decision made binding on the company in December 2013. According to the Commission, the commitments decision had achieved its “main purpose”, which it (...)

In a recently published decision of 6 April 2016, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (“Court”) rejected an appeal lodged by Deutsche Post AG (“DPAG”), Germany’s incumbent postal services operator, against a decision of the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”). By decision of 2 July 2015, the FCO (...)

According to a press release issued by the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) on 2 March 2016, proceedings have been initiated against Facebook Inc. as well as the Irish and German subsidiaries of Facebook. The FCO will investigate whether Facebook’s terms of service relating to the use of user (...)

On 17 December 2015, the French competition authority (“FCA”) imposed a fine of € 350 million on Orange for abusing its dominant position on the markets for fixed and mobile telecommunications services. In relation to fixed services, Orange was found to have engaged in discrimination against (...)

In a judgment issued on 1 December 2015, the Austrian Supreme Court (the “Court”) confirmed the ruling of the Higher Regional Court of Vienna, which had dismissed a request by the Austrian Cartel Authority (“ACA”) to prohibit five liquefied gas suppliers from imposing an exclusive purchase (...)

On 5 November 2015, the Competition College of the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) imposed provisional measures with regard to TV rights for the Superprestige Cyclocross Competition to address a possible infringement of Article IV.1 and/or IV.2 of the Code of Economic Law (the Belgian (...)

On 26 February 2015, the Brussels Court of Appeal rendered an interlocutory judgment ordering experts to assist the Court in determining whether the mobile termination rates (“MTRs”) applied by mobile operator Belgacom from 1999 to 2005 were abusive. MTRs are fees charged by mobile telephone (...)

In a judgment of 29 July 2014, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt (“Court”) upheld the decision of the Regional Court of Frankfurt dismissing the action brought by an automotive repair shop to be admitted to the authorised repair network of a passenger vehicle manufacturer. The automotive (...)

On 14 May 2014, the Swedish Competition Authority (SCA) rejected a complaint lodged by the global train company MTR against SJ AB, the incumbent Swedish railway, alleging that the latter has abused its dominant position on the market for online sales of long-distance train tickets in Sweden by (...)

On 8 May 2014, the Lazio Administrative Court (LAC) handed down its judgment upholding the decision of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) of 9 May 2013, which had imposed a fine of approximately €103.8 million on Telecom Italia for abuse of a dominant position on the Italian (...)

On 15 August 2013, the European Commission published a series of commitments proposed by the German railway incumbent Deutsche Bahn (“DB”) to resolve an investigation into its pricing system in Germany for the electricity used to power locomotives (known as “traction current”). In a press (...)

On 7 August 2013, a Dutch court issued a preliminary judgment in a dispute between Nestle, the multinational food and beverage producer, and Mars, the producer of candy bars. The dispute concerns the discount practices of Mars in its relationship with service stations. Under these (...)

On 18 July 2013, the Commission issued a press release announcing that it has issued a Statement of Objections against Altstoff Recycling Austria AG ("ARA") alleging that ARA may have abused its dominant position on the markets for the management of packaging waste (mainly packaging made (...)

On 30 May 2013, the European Commission announced that it had issued a Statement of Objections against OPCOM S.A. and its parent company CNTEE Transelectrica S.A. regarding OPCOM’s business practice of requiring OPCOM’s electricity spot market participants to hold a Romanian VAT (...)

On 25 April 2013, the Commission issued a press release announcing that it had begun market testing commitments offered by Google in relation to online search and search advertising. In its press release, the Commission stated that it continues to have concerns that Google may be abusing (...)

On 10 April 2013, the European Commission announced that it has accepted a set of commitments offered by CEZ, the Czech electricity incumbent, in July 2012 to resolve concerns regarding an alleged infringement of Article 102 TFEU. In particular, the Commission had reached the preliminary (...)

On 6 March 2013, the European Commission announced that it had opened formal antitrust proceedings against the Lithuanian railway incumbent AB Lietuvos geležinkeliai to investigate whether it restricted competition on the freight rail markets in Lithuania and Latvia by removing a railway (...)

On 11 February 2013, the English High Court dismissed an application for an interim injunction in an abuse of dominance case concerning an alleged refusal to supply a patented HIV prescription medicine. Chemistree Homecare Ltd (the “claimant”) had applied for an interim injunction against (...)

On 7 February 2013, the Belgian College of Competition Prosecutors filed a reasoned report with the Competition Council, finding that the energy company Electrabel abused its dominant position primarily by withholding capacity and thus artificially drove up prices on the market for the (...)

On 20 December 2012, the Commission announced that it had adopted a decision to render legally binding the commitments offered by Rio Tinto Alcan to address concerns raised by the Commission about competition on markets for aluminium smelting equipment. As the Commission noted, it had (...)

On 20 December 2012, the Commission announced that it had adopted a decision that renders legally binding the commitments offered by Thomson Reuters to create a new licence ("ERL") allowing customers, for a monthly fee, to use Reuters Instrument Codes (“RICs”) for data sourced from Thomson (...)

By judgment of 11 December 2012, recently published, the German Federal Court of Justice (“BGH”) annulled the judgment of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (“OLG Düsseldorf”) of 7 December 2011 and ruled that Scandlines Deutschland GmbH (“Scandlines”), which is the owner of the ferry port (...)

On 24 October 2012, the European Commission announced that it sent a Statement of Objections (“SO”) to Microsoft informing the company of the Commission’s preliminary view that Microsoft failed to comply with its commitments designed to enable users to more easily choose their preferred web (...)

On 27 September 2012, the Austrian Cartel Court (“the Court”) issued a press release announcing that it had rejected a request by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (“FCA”) to prohibit an alleged abuse of market power on the part of the only two radio taxi providers operating in (...)

On 13 September 2012, the General Court dismissed the appeal lodged by Protégé International Ltd against a European Commission decision to reject a complaint alleging breach of Article 102 TFEU by Pernod Ricard. In its complaint to the Commission, Protégé had alleged that Pernod Ricard (...)

On 4 September 2012, the European Commission announced that it has opened formal proceedings against Gazprom, the Russian producer and supplier of natural gas, to investigate whether Gazprom has abused its dominant market position in upstream gas supply markets in Central and Eastern (...)

On 10 August 2012, the Commission published in the Official Journal commitments offered by Alcan to address the Commission’s investigation of alleged tying practices by that company. According to the Commission, its preliminary assessment indicates that Alcan has a dominant position in (...)

On 17 July 2012, the Commission announced that it had opened proceedings against Microsoft in order to investigate whether the company has failed to comply with its 2009 commitments to offer users a choice screen that provides another means of allowing users to choose their preferred web (...)

On 12 July 2012, the Commission announced that it was consulting interested third parties on a new proposal from Thomson Reuters to address concerns that its licensing practices in relation to Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) may be in breach of Article 102 TFEU. The proposal is intended (...)

On 10 July 2012, the Commission published in the Official Journal proposed commitments by Czech energy company CEZ to resolve alleged abuses of a dominant position under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003. The move follows from dawn raids in November 2009 and the official opening of an (...)

In a press release of 5 July 2012, the Commission announced that it opened proceedings against Bulgarian Energy Holding (“BEH”), its gas supply subsidiary Bulgargaz, and its gas infrastructure subsidiary Bulgartransgaz. The Commission stated that it has concerns that BEH and its (...)

According to a recent press release, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has ordered BWB, the Berlin provider responsible for water supply and waste water management in greater Berlin, to lower its drinking water prices, which, according to the FCO, were excessive compared to water (...)

On 21 May 2012, the Commission issued a press statement inviting Google to submit remedies to address four concerns it identified pursuant to the antitrust investigation it launched in November 2010 into a potential abuse by Google of its dominant market position. The Commission noted (...)

By decision of 15 May 2012, recently published, the German Federal Court of Justice (“the Court”) annulled a decision of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (“HRCS”), by which the latter had annulled a decision of the federal cartel office (“FCO”) finding that a dominant water supplier had (...)

On 8 May 2012, the European Commission announced that it had issued a statement of objections to Slovak Telekom a.s. and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG, regarding their behaviour on several wholesale broadband markets in Slovakia. According to the Commission’s press release, the (...)

On 26 April 2012, the Spanish National Competition Authority (CNC) fined electrical utility incumbent Endesa approximately € 1 million for failing to comply with a December 2006 CNC decision. In that case, the CNC found that Endesa had taken advantage of privileged information to which it (...)

In a press release of 20 March 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced that it had issued an abuse decision against energy provider Entega. According to the press release, from 2007 to 2009 the company had allegedly charged its household and small business customers (...)

On 1 March 2012, the European Commission announced that it had opened a formal investigation to assess whether The MathWorks abused a dominant position under Article 102 TFEU in the market for the design of commercial control systems by preventing competitors from achieving (...)

On 17 January 2012, the French Supreme Court upheld a judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal of 27 January 2011, which had annulled fines of € 18 million and € 2 million imposed on 2004 on France Télécom and SFR, respectively, for an alleged margin squeeze on the market for fixed- to-mobile (...)

On 17 January 2012, the Competition Authority of Ireland (“ICA”) announced that it had successfully resolved an investigation against RTE, Ireland’s main television and radio broadcaster, in relation to allegedly anti- competitive discounts that were offered to advertisers. RTE has offered (...)

In a decision of 10 January 2012, the French Competition Authority rejected Hewlett-Packard’s request for interim measures against Oracle. This decision follows a complaint lodged by the Hewlett-Packard Company and Hewlett-Packard France (“HP”) alleging that the Oracle Corporation and Oracle (...)

On 14 December 2011, the Commission announced that it was inviting comments on commitments offered by Thomson Reuters to address concerns that its licensing practices in relation to the Reuters Instrument Codes (“RICs”) may infringe Article 102 TFEU. RICs are codes that identify securities (...)

On 9 December 2011, the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down its judgment repealing a decision of the Danish Competition Council (“CC”) of 22 December 2010, in which the CC had found that the national postal service provider Post Danmark had abused its dominant position in (...)

On 24 November 2011, the General Court ("GC") handed down its judgment in EFIM v. Commission. In its ruling, the GC dismissed an action by the European Federation of Ink and Ink Cartridge Manufacturers (“EFIM”) against a previous 2009 European Commission decision to drop its antitrust (...)

On 24 October 2011, the German Federal Court of Justice (the Court) dismissed the appeal of a press distributor (the “plaintiff”) who had brought an action against a publisher (the “defendant”), claiming that the publisher was under a duty to continue supplying the distributor on an exclusive (...)

On 29 July 2011, the ‘s-Hertogenbosch District Court issued an injunction against the confectionary company Mars ordering it to cease the further implementation of a marketing strategy relating to the preferred display of its products. In particular, this strategy consists of a programme of (...)

On 15 July 2011, the Commission announced that it had initiated proceedings against Czech electricity incumbent CEZ for possible infringement of Article 102 TFEU. According to the Commission’s statement, its investigation concerns the possibility that CEZ may have abused its dominant position on (...)

On 15 July 2011, the Commission announced that it had initiated proceedings against Austrian waste management company ARAfor possible infringement of Article 102 TFEU. According to the Commission’s statement, its investigation concerns the possibility that ARA may have abused its dominant (...)

On 7 July 2011, the Dutch Competition Authority (“NMa”) issued a decision annulling a previous decision and fines it had imposed on GasTerra, a Dutch gas wholesale company, for an alleged abuse of its dominant position on the Dutch wholesale gas market. On 5 January 2011, the NMa held that (...)

On 19 May 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) found that Merck KGaA (“Merck”) had abused its dominant position in the markets for several laboratory chemical products by discriminating among its customers. According to the FCO, Merck provided more favourable sales conditions to its (...)

On 16 May 2011, the Commission published commitments offered by Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) to remedy concerns regarding the pricing of international securities identification numbers (“ISINs”). ISINs are a standardized form of identification of securities which are needed in order to buy or (...)

In a decision of 29 April 2011, the Belgian Competition Council annulled, on appeal, a decision of the College of Competition Prosecutors rejecting a complaint lodged by Freedom, an association of drinks wholesalers, against Belgian brewer Inbev. In its complaint, Freedom alleged that Inbev (...)

On 7 December 2010, European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) Advocate General (“AG”) Jan Mazák published his opinion in Tele 2 Polska, advising the Court to rule that national competition authorities (“NCAs”) should not be entitled to declare certain practices compatible with Articles 101 or 102 of the (...)

On 29 September 2010, the Commission announced that it had adopted a decision under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003 to accept commitments from ENI concerning Italy’s natural gas market. Notably, the commitments were of a structural nature, in that ENI proposed to divest its shares in three (...)

On 29 September 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced that an investigation into twenty-four electric heating operators suspected of abusing their respective dominant positions was closed after the FCO accepted commitments to resolve the competition concerns. The (...)

On 2 September 2010, Ján Mázak, an Advocate General (“AG”) at the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”), published his opinion in a case considering whether TeliaSonera, the Swedish telecom incumbent, abused its dominant position as the owner of the country’s telephony infrastructure by engaging in a (...)

On 21 July 2010, the French Competition Authority published commitments offered by Google in an effort to resolve competition concerns identified by the Competition Authority in a decision of 30 June 2010. The 30 June decision granted interim measures to Navx, a company which sells online (...)

On 25 June 2010, the General Court handed down its judgment in the long-running procedure concerning an alleged abuse of a dominant position by Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (“ICI”) on the market for soda ash. In its judgment, the General Court largely upheld the Commission’s findings, but (...)

On 4 May 2010, the Commission announced that it had adopted a decision under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003 to accept commitments from E.ON concerning the German gas market. This follows a market testing of the commitments in January 2010. According to the Commission’s press release, interested (...)

The details of two appeals lodged at the General Court (“GC”) by Hynix Semiconductor (“Hynix”) against two Commission decisions concerning US chip manufacturer Rambus were published in the Official Journal of 5 June 2010. In December 2009, the Commission issued a decision closing an investigation (...)

On 1 March 2010, the Commission announced that it had sent a Statement of Objections to incumbent Polish telecoms operator Telekomunikacja Polska (“TP”) for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Polish wholesale broadband services market by engaging in a refusal to supply. In (...)

In a decision dated 11 February 2010, the Basque Competition Authority imposed a fine of approximately € 3.4 million on Telefónica for discriminatory practices in breach of the Spanish provision equivalent to Article 102 TFEU. The Basque Competition Authority considered that Telefónica held a (...)

On 4 February 2010, the Commission announced that the Italian energy company ENI had proposed structural remedies to address the Commission’s concerns that the management and operation of natural gas transmission pipelines by ENI could infringe Article 102 TFEU, and stated its intention to (...)

According to a press release of 28 January 2010, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has required Scandlines Deutschland GmbH (“Scandlines”), the owner of the Puttgarden ferry port and sole provider of ferry services between Puttgarden in Germany and Rødby in Denmark, to provide other ferry (...)

On 22 January 2010, the Commission published in the Official Journal a series of commitments offered by E.ON to address concerns raised by the Commission with respect to the German gas markets. According to the Commission’s preliminary assessment, E.ON may have infringed Article 102 TFEU by (...)

The Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) has recently terminated an antitrust investigation into Google after accepting and making binding commitments offered by Google to resolve two concerns raised during the ICA’s investigation. The ICA’s investigation started in August 2009, when Google was (...)

In a recently published decision of 14 January 2010, the French Competition Authority dismissed the allegation of the French Minister for the Economy against Sanofi-Aventis (“Sanofi”) concerning that firm’s pricing practices on the market for the supply of low-molecular-weight heparins (“LMWHs”) (...)

In a published decision of 12 January 2010, the Cypriot Commission for the Protection of Competition (“CPC”) concluded that the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (“CYTA”) abused its dominant position in the premium SMS (short messaging services of added value) market in breach of the applicable (...)

On 24 November 2009, the Commission announced its decision to close its proceedings against Qualcomm Incorporated concerning an alleged breach of Article 82 EC. The investigation was opened on 1st October 2007. Although the Commission noted that the Qualcomm case raised important issues about (...)

On 19 November 2009, the Commission announced that on 16 November 2009 it had sent a Statement of Objections to Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) for an alleged violation of Article 82 EC. According to the Commission’s press release, S&P is the sole-appointed National Numbering Agency (“NNA”) (...)

On 10 November 2009, the Commission announced that it was opening formal antitrust proceedings against Thomson Reuters regarding its practices in the area of real-time market datafeeds. In particular, the Commission will investigate whether customers or competitors are prevented from (...)

On 4 November 2009, the Commission announced that it was launching a market test of commitments offered by French energy company EDF to address allegedly abusive long-term contracts entered into by EDF. The move follows the sending of a Statement of Objections to EDF in December 2008. The (...)

In its judgment of 14 October 2009, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (“Court”) held that additional fees charged by the dominant German railway network provider (“defendant”) to a company active in the field of railway freight transportation (“claimant”) for the ad hoc use of the railway (...)

On 7 October 2009, the Commission announced that it was beginning a market test of commitments offered by Microsoft to address allegations that it tied its web browser Internet Explorer with its client PC operating system. The move follows the publication of a Statement of Objections earlier (...)

On 6 October 2009, the Commission announced that it was beginning a market test of commitments offered by Svenska Kraftnät (SvK), the Swedish transmission system operator, to address various allegations of abuse. The move follows an announcement by the Commission earlier this year that it had (...)

In a published judgment of 30 September 2009, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (“Court”) upheld the decision of the Regional Court of Düsseldorf according to which a consolidator was entitled to obtain damages from Deutsche Post AG (“DPAG”) for lost profits. The consolidator was a competitor (...)

On 17 September 2009, Advocate General Kokott issued her Opinion in Commission v. Alrosa, which concerns the Commission’s appeal of a CFI judgment that annulled a decision to accept commitments proposed by De Beers under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003. In her Opinion, Advocate General Kokott (...)

On 16 September 2009, the French Competition Authority found that the difference between intra-network and inter-network tariffs charged by mobile operator SRR, a subsidiary of French mobile operator SFR, were prima faciecontrary to Article 82 EC and the equivalent French provision and created (...)

On 8 September 2009, the Slovak competition authority imposed a fine of about € 18,000 on ENVI-PAK for abuse of its dominant position by applying discriminatory prices in licensing the “Green Dot” trademark. Manufacturers pay to place the Green Dot trademark on packaging in order to signal that (...)

In a decision made available this month, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) declined to charge Deutsche Telekom AG (“DTAG”) for allegedly abusing its dominant position with respect to telecommunication services necessary to provide premium rate services, rejecting a complaint by competitor (...)

In a decision of 31 July 2009, which was made public on 7 September 2009, the French Competition Authority rejected German generic pharmaceutical company Ratiopharm‘s request for interim measures against Janssen-Cilag France (“Janssen”), the maker of Durogesic. The move follows a complaint lodged (...)

On 23 July 2009, the Spanish Competition Authority fined AIE, the Spanish collecting society for music artists, for abusive practices in the period since 1995, in breach of Article 82 EC and the equivalent Spanish provision. The decision followed from a complaint by Telecinco, a Spanish (...)

On 16 July 2009, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its judgment in the appeal of Duales System Deutschland (DSD) against a 2007 judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI), which had upheld a Commission decision finding that the German recycling company’s licensing scheme for its (...)

In a decision adopted on 24 June 2009, the Danish Competition Council (DCC) found that the Danish post operator Post Danmark had abused its dominant position on the market for direct mailing (“direct mailing” refers to the sending by the same party of a large batch of letters to a group of (...)

On 19 May 2009, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision against Abertis for concluding contracts of excessive duration and offering bundled rebates contrary to Article 82 EC and the Spanish equivalent provision. Abertis is a group of undertakings active in the management of various (...)

On 21 September 2009, the Commission published the non-confidential version of the Intel decision of 13 May 2009, and a summary of the decision was also published in the Official Journal of 22 September 2009. The materials confirm that the Commission has challenged two specific practices : (i) (...)

On 27 April 2009, the Commission issued a press release announcing that it had opened formal proceedings against Telekomunikacja Polska and Slovak Telekom for possible breaches of Article 82 EC. In particular, the Commission announced that it is investigating Slovak Telekom, the Slovak telecoms (...)

On 23 April 2009, the Commission issued a press release announcing that it had opened formal proceedings against Svenska Kraftnät (“SvK”), the Swedish electricity transmission system operator, for possible breaches of Article 82 EC. SvK is a State-owned central administrative authority in Sweden (...)

On 8 April 2009, the French Competition Authority decided to reject commitments offered by the EDF group (« EDF« ) – the French electricity incumbent – with respect to the emerging market for photovoltaic electricity (the « photovoltaic market« ) and instead to impose interim measures and continue (...)

On 7 January 2009, the French Competition Authority released a market test notice concerning certain commitments offered “by” the French electricity incumbent, the EDF group (“EDF”). EDF is the largest supplier of electricity in France and one of the largest players in the European electricity (...)

On 2 April 2009, the French Competition Authority dismissed SFR‘s application for interim measures against Orange concerning the latter’s bundled offer of its broadband and « Unik« mobile telephony services. Orange‘s « Unik« package is characterised by the convergence between fixed and mobile (...)

On 31 March 2009, Advocate General Bot delivered his opinion in the appeal of Duales System Deutschland (“DSD”) against a 2007 CFI judgment holding that the German recycling company’s licensing scheme for its “Green Dot” logo constituted an abuse of a dominant position. The Advocate General (...)

In a recently published decision of 27 March 2009, the Slovakian Competition Authority (“CA”) upheld a first instance decision of 28 October 2008 imposing a fine of approximately € 2.4 million on Slovak Telecom (“ST”), the incumbent provider of telecom services in Slovakia. The investigation dates (...)

On 25 March 2009, the French Competition Authority imposed a €320,000 fine on Gaz et Electricité de Grenoble (GEG) for abusing its dominant position on the market for electricity supply to small professionals in the service area of Grenoble by publicly denigrating its competitor, Poweo, in (...)

On 6 March 2009, the Commission sent a Statement of Objections to the Italian ENI group, setting out its preliminary view that the management and operation of natural gas pipelines by ENI may constitute one or more abuses. In particular, the Commission alleges that ENI, the largest producer, (...)

According to a press release of 6 March 2009, the Austrian Higher Cartel Court has referred a case involving an allegation of margin squeeze by Telekom Austria TA AG back to the Austrian Cartel Court. The case concerns Telekom Austria‘s “KombiP2007” package offer of bundled internet, mobile and (...)

On 4 March 2009, the Commission announced that it had adopted a Decision removing the Trustee provisions from the 2004 Microsoft Decision and repealed the subsequent 2005 Trustee Decision which was adopted on the basis of the 2004 Decision. According to the Commission, it found that the Trustee (...)

On 3 March 2009, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision finding that EFEMSA, a public undertaking charged with the provision of funeral services in Majorca, engaged in exclusionary practices contrary to the Spanish provision equivalent to Article 82 EC. EFEMSA is controlled by the (...)

According to a press release, the German Federal Court of Justice, in its decision dated 3 March 2009, upheld a decision of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf, finding that Deutsche Lufthansa AG had abused its dominant position by refusing to supply the authorisations required to allow (...)

On 16 February 2009, the French Competition Council accepted commitments from several operators of motorway concessions in France (hereinafter referred to as the “motorway network operators”) to resolve concerns that each may have abused their respective dominant positions as regards the granting (...)

The Commission has issued a press release confirming that it has sent a new Statement of Objections to Microsoft on 15th January 2009 which takes the preliminary view that Microsoft has tied its web browser Internet Explorer to Windows in violation of Article 82 EC. According to the (...)

On 12 January 2009, the Commission announced that it has opened formal proceedings into Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) licensing conditions regarding International Securities Identification Numbers (“ISINs”). ISINs are unique identifiers for securities issued throughout the world, and S&P is (...)

On 29 December 2008, the Commission confirmed that it has sent a Statement of Objections to EDF, the largest supplier of electricity in France. The Statement of Objections concerns various long-term contracts entered into between EDF and industrial customers in France, the existence of which (...)

On 11 December 2008, the ECJ handed down a judgment in which it responded to four questions referred to it by the Swedish Market Court. The questions arose in a dispute between the Swedish copyright collecting society STIM and two commercial TV channels, TV 4 and Kanal 5 (the “TV channels”). The (...)

On 9 December 2008, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision fining the two Spanish collecting societies in the music industry, AGEDI (representing music producers) and AIE (representing artists), for discriminatory pricing in breach of Article 82 EC and the equivalent provision of (...)

By decision of 12 November 2008, the Budapest Court of Appeal confirmed that the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) erred by finding that communications company Invitel abused its dominant position in a 2006 decision. The GVH’s decision found that Invitel was abusing its position by (...)

On 3 November 2008, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office (the “Antimonopoly Office”) imposed a fine of 73 million SKK (approximately € 2.4 million) on Slovak Telekom, the dominant telecommunications network owner and operator, for margin squeezing. Slovak Telekom operates the telecommunications network (...)

On 10 October 2008, the Council of the Slovak Antimonopoly Office imposed a fine of 98.9 million SKK (approximately € 3.3 million) on eustream for an abuse of its dominant position. The company is the operator of the only gas transport network in Slovakia and is a member of the SPP group (a (...)

According to a press release of 6 October 2008, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) closed its proceedings against six regional gas suppliers belonging to the E.ON group in exchange for a commitment according to which the companies agree not to increase prices for two months and to pay a (...)

In a speech on 25 September 2008, Commissioner Kroes provided an update on the status of the Article 82 Guidelines with respect to exclusionary abuses. In this regard, Commissioner Kroes noted that a new draft document was created and circulated to the Member States, and earlier in September (...)

On 25 September 2008, Advocate General Mazák issued his opinion in France Télécom‘s appeal of the judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI). This judgment upheld a Commission decision which concluded that France Télécom had abused its dominant position on the French market for high-speed Internet (...)

On 16 September 2008, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgment in Joined Cases C-468-478/06, answering the questions posed by the Athens Court of Appeals in proceedings against a decision finding that Glaxo Smith Kline (“GSK”) had not abused its dominant position by limiting (...)

On 11 September 2008, Advocate General Trstenjak delivered her opinion on four questions referred to the ECJ by the Swedish Market Court. The questions arose in a dispute between two commercial TV channels, TV 4 and Kanal 5 (the “TV channels”) and the Swedish copyright collecting society Stim. (...)

On 8 August 2008, the Hungarian Competition Authority (the "GVH") decided to accept commitments from OFFI, Hungary’s National Office for Translation and Attestation, in a case it initiated ex officio. OFFI, a limited liability company 100% owned by the Hungarian state, is by law granted the (...)

On 31 July 2008, the Commission announced that it was welcoming changes made by EDF, a supplier of electricity in France, to its contractual framework with Exeltium, a consortium of large industrial electricity consumers in France. According to the Commission’s press statement, EDF has made (...)

On 17 July 2008, the Commission confirmed that it sent a supplementary Statement of Objections to Intel. This supplementary SO is said to reinforce the initial SO and also identify the Commission’s preliminary conclusion that Intel has engaged in three additional elements of abusive conduct. (...)

On 1 July 2008, the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) issued its judgment on Compagnie Maritime Belge’s appeal of the Commission decision of 30 April 2004 (the “Decision”), which had fined it € 3.4 million for the infringements of Article 82 EC established in the Commission original decision of 23 (...)

On 1 July 2008, the European Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in a case involving a challenge to the activities of ELPA, which has responsibility for organising motorcycle events in Greece and also in entering into sponsorship, advertising and insurance contracts. The Court of (...)

On 12 June 2008, the Commission adopted a press release announcing the beginning of market-testing for commitments offered by E.ON to resolve two outstanding investigations under Article 82 EC. The Commission previously welcomed the submission of such proposals on 28 February 2008. In the (...)

On 22 May 2008, the Commission initiated proceedings against Gaz de France for possible infringement of Articles 81 and 82 EC. According to the Commission’s statement, its investigation concerns the possible foreclosure of downstream supply markets for natural gas in France through long-term (...)

Details of Deutsche Telekom’s appeal against the Court of First Instance’s judgment of 10 April 2008 have been published. According to the summary of the appeal, Deutsche Telekom is arguing, inter alia, that the Court of First Instance infringed Article 82 EC and the principle of legitimate (...)

On 10 April 2008, the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) issued its judgment on Deutsche Telekom‘s appeal of the Commission Decision of 23 May 2003 (the “Decision”) which had fined it € 12.6 million for engaging in a margin squeeze. The CFI upheld the Decision in virtually all respects. In the (...)

In a recently published decision of 8 April 2008, the Austrian Supreme Court assessed whether a newspaper undertaking involved in distribution abused its dominant position by offering a motorway permit sticker for free with new subscriptions. The undertaking, dominant on the Austrian market for (...)

On 3 April 2008, the Austrian Cartel Court accepted the commitments of OMV AG (“OMV”) aimed at remedying concerns that OMV had abused its dominant position on the market for the provision of jet fuel and fuel transport infrastructure at the Vienna airport. As a result, OMV has agreed to give (...)

On 1 April 2008, Advocate General Colomer gave his opinion in Joined Cases C-468/06 to C-478/06 Sot. Lélos Kai Sia EE (and Others) v GlaxoSmithKline AEVE.The case relates to a long series of disputes in Greece where GlaxoSmithKline has been accused of abusing its dominant position by reducing (...)

On 31 March 2008, the Spanish Competition Authority adopted a decision finding that Estación Sur de Atobuses de Madrid SA (“Estación Sur”) had abused its dominant position in breach of the Spanish provision equivalent to Article 82 EC. In this regard, the Spanish Competition Authority concluded (...)

On 13 March 2008, the Spanish Competition Authority found that Empresa Pública de Puertos de Andalucía (“Puertos de Andalucía”), a public undertaking which runs marinas in the South of Spain, had not abused its dominant position by engaging in predatory pricing. Although the decision found that (...)

On 3 March 2008, the Danish Competition Appeal Tribunal concluded that the Danish electricity production company Elsam A/S (“Elsam”) had abused its dominant position on the market for the wholesale of physical electricity in Western Denmark during the period of 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2006 by (...)

On 28 February 2008, the Commission adopted a press release welcoming proposals submitted by E.ON under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003 to address two on-going investigations relating to competition in the German electricity market. As announced in the Commission’s press release, E.ON has (...)

On 27 February 2008, the Commission announced that it had imposed a penalty payment of € 899 million on Microsoft for its alleged failure to comply with obligations contained in the Commission’s March 2004 decision. In particular, the Commission stated that Microsoft had charged unreasonable (...)

On 25 February 2008, the UK energy regulator Ofgem fined National Grid £ 41.6 million (approximately € 51.4 million) for abusing its dominant position in the UK market for domestic gas metering in violation of Article 82 EC and the Chapter II prohibition of the UK Competition Act. Under the Act, (...)

The European Commission announced that it sent a Statement of Objections to Alcan on 21st February 2008. The SO alleges that Alcan may have infringed Article 82 EC by tying its dominant aluminium smelting technology with handling equipment sold by Alcan’s subsidiary ECL. In particular, the SO (...)

On 12 February 2008, the Spanish Competition Authority fined a supplier of explosives for excessive pricing in the Canary Islands in breach of the Spanish equivalent to Article 82 EC. The Spanish Competition Authority concluded that Canarias de Explosivos S.A. held a dominant position on the (...)

On 5 February 2008, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected Schering-Plough’s appeal against the French Competition Council’s interim decision of 11 December 2007. In that decision, the Competition Council had ordered Schering-Plough to publish a text in two medical magazines confirming the (...)

The Dutch Competition Authority (“NMa”) published guidelines on the handling of digital files during an investigation (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines replace the former guidelines which had been in force since 2003. Under the new Guidelines, the NMa is allowed to copy digital information stored (...)

In a recently published judgment of 23 January 2008, the Lazio Administrative Tribunal (“LAT”) has rejected the appeals brought by Telecom Italia and Wind against the decision of the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) finding that Telecom and Wind had abused their respective dominant positions (...)

On 27 December 2007, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office imposed a fine of 525.8 million SKK (approximately € 15.5 million) on Slovak Telekom for abusing its dominant position in the telecommunication market under both Slovak and EC competition law by charging its competitors unfair interconnecting (...)

In its recently published decision dated 5 December 2007, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf held that a leading undertaking in the travel services market had abused its dominant position by refusing to supply to a travel lodge card supplier authorisations to issue VAT information on the (...)

On 16 July 2007, the Czech Competition Authority announced that it had imposed a fine on České dráhy, a.s. (“Czech Railways”) for abusing its dominant position on the market for rail freight transport of large volume substrates. The fine amounts to CZK 270 million (approximately € 11 million). The (...)