On May 13th, 2019, the European Commission fined (AB InBev) more than €200 million for abusing its dominant position on the Belgian beer market by hindering cheaper imports of its Jupiler beer from the Netherlands into Belgium. AB InBev is the world’s biggest beer brewer. Its most popular beer brand in Belgium is Jupiler, which…
The European Commission has just announced to have fined Google €1.49 billion for abusing its market dominance in the online search advertising intermediation market. In particular, the Commission has firstly alleged that Google is dominant in the market for online search advertising intermediation in the EEA because of its very high market shares, exceeding 85%…
The European Commission has fined the Bulgarian Energy Holding (“BEH”), its gas supply subsidiary Bulgargaz and its gas infrastructure subsidiary Bulgartransgaz (“the BEH group”) €77.068.000,00 for blocking competitors’ access to key gas infrastructure in Bulgaria in breach of article 102 of TFEU. The Commission opened a formal investigation into the BEH Group’s behaviour on July…
In case T-691/14, the General Court of the European Union (the “GC”) has reduced Servier’s fine for abuse of dominance position through a pay-for-delay practice by €102.67 million. According to the GC, the European Commission (the “Commission”) incorrectly defined the relevant market and it erroneously limited the market to perindopril, while it should have included…
In case Apple Sales International et al. v. MJA (acting as liquidator of eBizcuss.com) (C-595/17), the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has recently affirmed that a jurisdiction clause is applicable to an action for damages brought by a distributor against its supplier for antitrust damages, despite it does not expressly refer to disputes…
On 18 July, 2018, the European Commission fined Google a record €4.3 billion fine for imposing restrictions on Android device makers and mobile network operators. It must now put an end to this conduct within 90 days or face penalty payments. The commission’s Directorate-General for Competition formally launched the investigation in 2015, after receiving several…
The European Commission has fined Qualcomm €997m for abusing its market dominance in LTE baseband chipsets. According to the Commission, its exclusivity rebates with Apple illegally shut out rivals from the 4G baseband chipsets market. Baseband chipsets are used in smartphones and tablets to connect them to mobile networks for voice and data transmission. LTE…
On September 15, 2017, in case C-177/16, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) ruled that comparing prices between EU member states is a valid way to determine whether prices may be abusively excessive and competition regulators have a certain margin of discretion in deciding whether prices are excessive in the absence of a single adequate…
The European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) sets aside the judgment of the General Court, which had upheld the fine of 1.06 billion euros imposed on Intel by the Commission for abuse of a dominant position. The case is now referred back to the General Court in order for it to examine the arguments put forward…
On June 27, 2017, the European Commission has fined Google €2.42 billion for having abused its alleged market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to its comparison shopping service. According to the Commission, Google is dominant in the search engine market by providing search results to consumers who pay for the…