IN THE NEWS
European Commission Officials, accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities, have conducted unannounced inspections at the premises of companies active in the natural gas sector in ten member states on the basis that the Commission has reason to believe that the companies may have engaged in anti-competitive practices in breach of Articles 101 and/or 102 TFEU. Click here.
EU
Articles 101 and 102
- The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to investigate whether the standardisation process for payments over the internet (e-payments) undertaken by the European Payments Council infringes Article 101 TFEU. Click here.
- Details of an appeal lodged by Elf Aquitaine SA against the General Court's judgment dismissing its appeal against the European Commission's decision on the sodium chlorate cartel decision have been published. Elf Aquitaine is challenging both the General Court's ruling that the Commission had been correct to attribute liability to Elf Aquitaine for the actions of its subsidiary Arkema France and the amount of the fine imposed on Elf Aquitaine for deterrence. Click here.
Mergers – invitation to comment
- ECE/Metro/MEC JV. Click here.
- Aelia/Aéroports de Paris/JV. Click here.
- Südzucker/ED & F Man. Click here.
- Arla Foods/Allgäuland. Click here.
Mergers – cleared
- North Sea/Argos Group. Click here.
- Compo/Triton. Click here.
- MAN/Volkswagen. Click here.
- ING Car Lease/BMW. Click here.
Public Procurement
- The European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee has adopted an own initiative Resolution on the European Commission's Green Paper on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy. Click here.
- The European Commission has published the results of a survey on citizens' awareness and perceptions of the EU internal market, including views on public procurement within the EU. Click here.
State Aid
- The ECJ has dismissed an appeal by Belgium against a General Court ruling that annulled a European Commission decision to approve Belgian state aid to La Poste. Click here.
Speeches
- Joaquín Almunia, "Public enforcement and private damages actions in antitrust", click here.
UK
CAT
- The CAT has published a summary of an application by BAA to challenge the legality of the CC's decision that there are no material changes in circumstances that would justify amending the 2009 decision to require BAA to divest Stansted airport and either Edinburgh airport or Glasgow airport. Click here.
- The CAT has published notices of appeals by BT and Talk Talk to challenge Ofcom's decision on the wholesale broadband access charge control. Click here and here.
OFT
- Mergers – invitation to comment: Unifrax I LLC/Saffil 2011 Limited and Saffil America; One Equity Partners/Linpac Group Holding Limited; Vivendi S.A./UK Ticketing Limited, click here.
- Mergers – undertakings in lieu of a reference to the Competition Commission: GB Oils/Pace Fuelcar, click here.
- Mergers – cleared: Capita Group plc/NorthgateArinso's pensions administration business; Lonza Group Ltd/Arch Chemicals, Inc.; Greencore Foods Limited/Uniq plc, click here.
- Mergers – full text decisions: Origin Fertilisers (UK) Limited/CM Fertilisers Limited, click here.
- The OFT has published the results of its market study into organic waste treatment. The OFT has found that there are a number of barriers to competition in this sector. Click here.
Other
- Ofcom has decided to resolve a dispute between British Telecommunications plc (BT) and TalkTalk Group. The dispute concerns the charge set by Openreach for its local loop unbundling wholesale product for Metallic Path Facility rental. Click here.
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