THE SPANISH COMPETITION AUTHORITY (CNMC) IMPOSES A FINE OF EUR 8.75 MILLION TO REPSOL FOR NOT COMPLYING WITH A PREVIOUS DECISION

In 2009, the CNMC sanctioned Repsol, Cepsa and BP for indirectly fixing the retail price charged to independent petrol stations that operated under their flag. In doing so, they restricted competition between the petrol stations of their network and all the other petrol stations. This decision aimed at avoiding price fixing of the fuel in…

APPLY NOW – TRENTO SUMMER SCHOOL ON ADVANCED EU COMPETITION LAW AND ECONOMICS

The Summer School is organised by the Osservatorio Permanente sull’Applicazione delle Regole di Concorrenza based at Faculty of Law of Trento University. The Summer School is co-directed by Gian Antonio Benacchio and Michele Carpagnano. The Summer School offers a unique opportunity to analyse and study EU Competition Law and Economics at an advanced level. This advanced course combines academia with a pragmatic…

THE SPANISH CNMC HAS INITIATED PROCEEDINGS AGAINST PFIZER

The CNMC, the Spanish Competition Authority, has initiated proceedings against Pfizer for a potential anticompetitive conduct derived from the supply contracts. The referred company signed the contracts with several wholesale distributors. Such supply contracts are deemed to impede effective parallel commerce within the European Union. In 2005, Spain Pharma filed a claim against Pfizer and…

V TRENTO ANTITRUST CONFERENCE 16-18 APRIL 2015

The fifth edition of the Trento Antitrust Conference will be held in Trento on 16-18 April 2015. The Conference is organized by the Trento Faculty of Law and the Osservatorio Permanente sull’Applicazione delle Regole di Concorrenza (“Antitrust Observatory”), founded and co-directed by Michele Carpagnano and Gian Antonio Benacchio. The event is supported by the Italian…

THE COMPETITION AND MARKETS AUTHORITY (CMA) CONSULTS ON REDRESS IN COMPETITION CASES

The CMA has opened a consultation on draft guidance on its power to approve redress schemes offered in competition cases. This is due to the new Consumer Rights Act 2015 expected to come into force in October 2015, that will give parties to competition investigations who have breached the law the power to submit a…

CMA CONSULTS ON MODIFIED MOTOR INSURANCE ORDER

The CMA is consulting on a modified draft order, which sets out how changes resulting from its investigation into private motor insurance will be introduced and monitored. In September last year, the CMA published its final report into private motor insurance which said that it would: ban agreements between price comparison websites and insurers which…

ADVOCATE GENERAL WAHL DELIVERS OPINION ON DEUTSCHE BAHN’S APPEAL AGAINST EC DAWN RAID IN CASE-583/ 13 – DEUTSCHE BAHN

On 12 February 2015, Advocate General Wahl delivered his opinion to the European Court of Justice (the “ECJ”) in Case C-583/13 Deutsche Bahn AG v European Commission. The appeal concerns Deutsche Bahn’s actions for annulment of three 2011 Commission decisions authorizing unannounced Article 102 inspections at Deutsche Bahn AG’s (and some of its subsidiaries’) premises.…

THE FRENCH ‘LOI HAMON’ ON COLLECTIVE ACTIONS MATERIALISES THE FIRST RESULTS

Since the entry into force of the ‘Loi Hamon’ on 1 October 2014, introducing the class action in the French system, several claims have been lodged in the competent courts by consumer associations. The first class action was brought by the association UFC – Que Choisir against Foncia, on 1 October 2014, in order to…

THE GENERAL COURT DECIDES THE EASYJET CASE ABOUT THE COMMISSION’S RIGHT TO REJECT A COMPLAINT

The General Court stated, with decision of 21 January 2015 in the case Easyjet (T-355/13),  that the Commission may reject a complaint on the basis that a national competition authority has already dealt with it. In 2008, EasyJet lodged complaints with the Netherlands competition authority against Schiphol (Luchthaven Schiphol NV) airport’s pricing policies. After the…

CALL FOR PAPERS: THE COMPETITION LAW SCHOLARS FORUM (CLASF) – WORKSHOP ON “OBJECT AND/OR EFFECTS IN COMPETITION LAW”

The CLaSF is inviting contributions to its forthcoming workshop on “Object and/or effects in Competition Law”, that will be held at the Lancaster Law School, on Friday 24 April 2015.   Call for Papers The Competition Law Scholars Forum (CLaSF) Invite contributions to the XXIV CLaSF event (www.clasf.org) Clasf Workshop on   “Object and/or effects in Competition Law” Lancaster…