The Austrian Cartel Court held that between July 2002 and December 2013 the companies HOLDAG BeteiligungsgmbH, INTERSPAR GmbH, SPAR HOLDING AG, SPAR Österreichische Warenhandels-AG, Maximarkt Handels-GmbH and LM Beteiligungs GmbH fixed vertical retail prices with various suppliers in regards to various areas of the food retail sector. In particular the practices affected the market segments…
In the press release published on 2 February 2017, the Commission has announced the opening of the formal proceedings that aim to verify the existence of anticompetitive online sales practices concerning consumer electronics, video games and hotel accommodation. The investigations are conducted in the context of Article 101 TFEU that prohibits anti-competitive agreements between companies.…
On 10 November 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the new Spanish funding scheme for the public television system (RTVE) is not in violation of EU State aid law. Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE) is the Spanish public radio and television broadcasting organisation, which relied on a dual…
On 27 September 2016, the Commission has sent the Statement of Objections to the International Skating Union (ISU) in the context of the ISU Eligibility rules relating to the participation of athletes in the international speed skating events. The preliminary findings indicate that the rules, which set out that penalties should be imposed on the…
On 8 Setptember 2016, the General Court handed down its judgment in the Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries and Ranbaxy v Commission case, confirming the fines imposed by the Commission´s decision in 2013. The Court agreed that the agreement under scrutiny resulted in a restriction of competition by object. But firsts things first, the case regards the…
With a judgment rendered on 28 June 2016 (Joint Cases T-208/13 and T-216/13), the General Court dismissed, almost in their entirety, the actions brought by PT and Telefónica against the decision by which the Commission, in 2013, and sanctioned the two incumbent operators in the area of electronic communications for a market-sharing agreement, enacted through a…
On 16 June 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union rejected the appeals brought by SKW (C-154/14 P) and Degussa (C-155/14 P) against the General Court’s rulings, which had upheld the decision adopted by the Commission in the calcium carbide cartel. By that decision, the Commission had fined 9 suppliers of calcium carbide…
According to the preliminary view of the European Commission expressed on 20 April, Google has violated EU competition law by imposing restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators. The Statement of Objections addressed to Google and to its parent company, Alphabet, specified that Google’s strategy concerning mobile devices has aimed to strengthen and…
On 18 March, the Commission has published its preliminary findings regarding geo-blocking in the EU. They demonstrate that practices whereby consumers are prevented from purchasing goods and accessing digital content online are widespread in the EU and may trigger competition concerns. This analysis forms part of the competition e-commerce sector inquiry launched in May 2015.…
On 10 March, the European Court of Justice delivered four judgments finding that the requests for information sent in 2011 by the Commission to a number of cement manufacturers, in the context of an infringement procedure, lacked an adequate statement of reasons and were therefore unlawful (see C‑247/14 P HeidelbergCement; C‑248/14 P Schwenk Zement; C‑267/14…