On January 5, 2022, France’s top civil court ruled that the question of jurisdiction in the case opposing pharmaceutical company Roche and the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) in respect of the communication campaign led by the FCA in the Avastin/Lucentis case was particularly complex, and decided to refer it to the Tribunal des conflits to be settled.
On January 4, 2022, the Cour de cassation confirmed the rulings of the president of the Court of Appeals validating dawn raids carried out in May 2017 by the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) in the rendering sector.[1]
On December 28, 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) dismissed a claim brought against Samsung by one of its authorized distributors regarding alleged anticompetitive agreements in the sale of consumer electronics.[1]
The UK Government has stated that the review of mergers in the UK “should be as efficient as possible, focusing its attention on mergers most likely to be harmful to competition and consumers, without unduly hindering benign investment.”[1] To that end, the UK has a voluntary, non-suspensive system of merger control, intended to promote greater flexibility and proportionality than a suspensory regime.
On 16 December 2021, the CAT published a notice of application brought by Mr. Justin Gutmann to commence collective proceedings
On December 16, 2021, the European Commission officially ‘took note’ of IAG and Globalia’s announcement to terminate their proposed agreement according to which IAG would acquire sole control over Air Europa.[1]
In a press release dated December 15, 2021, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) announced the opening of a public consultation on Google’s proposed commitments in the “related rights” case. These commitments seek to address the preliminary competition concerns expressed by the FCA Investigation Services, who are still pursuing the proceedings on the merits following an interim measures decision issued in April 2020.
On December 14, the Commission conditionally approved the proposed acquisition of Suez by Veolia (“the Transaction”) following review in Phase I.[1]
On December 9, 2021, Advocate General (“AG”) Rantos delivered his opinion on the questions referred to the Court of Justice (“ECJ”) by the Italian Consiglio di Stato in case Servizio Elettrico Nazionale.[1] The Consiglio di Stato is seeking clarification of certain aspects of the concept of “abuse” under Article 102 TFEU.