On February 21, 2018, in three separate settlement decisions, the European Commission fined four maritime car carriers €395 million, two suppliers of spark plugs €76 million, and two suppliers of braking systems €75 million for having concluded anti-competitive agreements in breach of article 101 TFEU. I. Maritime car carriers The Commission found that the…
The European Commission has fined Tokai Rika, Takata, Autoliv, Toyoda Gosei and Marutaka a total of € 34 million for breaching EU antitrust rules. The five suppliers acknowledged their involvement in the cartels and agreed to settle the case. Takata was not fined for three of the cartels as it revealed their existence to the…
On 1 February 2017, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) formally opened an investigation into Telecom Italy S.p.A. and Fastweb S.p.A. agreements for a possible violation of Art. 101 TFEU. The investigation concerns the agreement with which the undertakings in question created a joint cooperative company, called Flash Fiber Srl, for the construction of optical fiber…
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…
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…
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…
The four sanctioned companies are Fisioterapia, Iriteb, L’Eivax y Centro de Accidentes Laborales y Rehabilitación Gramenet (Carlg). The fines imposed are the following: Fisioterapia: 600,000 euros; Iriteb has been fined 240,000 euros, L’Eivax 80,000 euros and Carlg 30,000 euros. According to research conducted by ACCO, it has been concluded that after the public tender called…
On 9 September the General Court issued the judgments reducing the fines imposed by the Commission in 2012 (Case COMP/39.437) on Panasonic and Toshiba for their involvement in a cartel on the European market for picture tubes for television sets. Following the leniency application submitted by Chunghwa, the Commission imposed in the contested decision the…