On June 1, 2022, the General Court heard arguments from Meta (previously Facebook) and the Commission in the case relating to Meta’s challenge of a Commission decision dated May 4, 2020, issued in the context of the Commission’s antitrust investigation into Facebook’s data- related practices.[1]
On May 17, 2022, the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) imposed a fine of €3,501,020 on Leadiant Biosciences Ltd. and Essetfin S.p.A. (jointly “Leadiant”) for violating Article 102 TFEU by charging excessive prices for the sale to the Italian National Health System (the Sistema Sanitario Nazionale or “SSN”) of a drug used for the treatment of Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (“CTX”), a rare condition that affects the human body’s ability to metabolize cholesterols.[1]
On May 10, 2022, the ICA accepted and made binding the commitments offered by the parties in an investigation concerning an alleged exchange of information in the direct sales of motor vehicle insurance policies. The alleged exchange took place between Italy’s leading companies offering price-comparison services (the “Comparators”) and 13 insurance companies (the “Insurance Companies”) and intermediaries (the “Intermediaries”; jointly, the “Parties”).[1]
On May 9, 2022, the Council of State delivered three judgments in annulment proceedings brought by the addressees of a 2019 ICA decision, which found 19 companies liable for participating in a cartel aimed at rigging a tender procedure in the facility maintenance sector in Italy (the “Decision”).[1]
On April 28, 2022, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of home furnishing retailer Conforama
On April 27, 2022, the European Commission (the “Commission”) approved a State aid scheme of €700 million of the French State “to support research, development and innovation projects by companies of all sizes and active across all sectors”[1] (the “French Scheme” or the “Scheme”). The French authorities estimate the number of beneficiaries of the scheme to range between 11 and 50 companies.[2] The scheme will be in place until December 31, 2023.
On April 26, 2022, the Italian Supreme Court confirmed a judgment of the Milan Court of Appeal, which had upheld the damages claim brought by Teleunit S.p.A. (“Teleunit”) against Telecom Italia S.p.A. (“Tim”)[1].
The EU’s historic Digital Markets Act will bring about a paradigm shift in the regulation of digital markets, giving the
On April 20, 2022, the Cour de cassation, the French Supreme Court, upheld the judgment of the First President of the Paris Court of Appeal validating dawn raids carried out by the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) in the wine and spirits sector in 2019. The Cour de cassation held that the scope of the French legal professional privilege (“LPP”) (secret professionnel) is not limited to attorney-client correspondence relating to conduct in the scope of the proceedings at stake but to any and all proceedings, even unrelated to competition law, where any outside lawyer is representing his or her client’s rights of defense.[1]
On April 12, 2022, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) fined Compagnie Financière Européenne de Prises de Participation (“COFEPP”) 7 million euros for two distinct but related infringements, namely failing to notify a merger transaction (failure to notify) and implementing said transaction before merger control approval had been obtained (so-called “gun-jumping”).