The EU Court of Justice confirms the limitations that apply before courts can classify anticompetitive agreements as a restriction of competition by object under Art 101 TFEU in a multilateral interchange fee credit card transaction (Budapest Bank)

On 2 April 2020, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") delivered its judgment in Budapest Bank on a reference for a preliminary ruling from Hungary's highest court. The judgment confirms the important limitations that apply before competition authorities and courts are able classify anticompetitive agreements as a restriction of competition "by object" under Article 101 TFEU. The background to the case arises from a 2009 finding by the Hungarian competition authority that 22 banks, as well as Visa and Mastercard, had breached Article 101 TFEU by entering into an anticompetitive agreement to establish a uniform interchange fee for card payments (the "MIF Agreement"). The national competition authority ("NCA") found that the agreement had both the object and effect of restricting