On August 31, 2021,[1] the Council of State reaffirmed the position it recently took in two previous judgments regarding the calculation of fines for bid rigging cases.[2]
The French Competition Authority Publishes Its Revised Fining Guidelines
On July 30, 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) published its revised Fining Guidelines, which repealed and replaced the 2011 guidelines.[1] In June, the FCA had opened a public consultation on a draft, which provided for different changes of the method of calculation of fines. While the Guidelines as published have retained those changes, they also include several more minor ones resulting from the public consultation.
The French Cour de Cassation Rejects the FCA’s Appeal in Sanicorse
In a July 7, 2021 ruling, the Cour de cassation dismissed the appeal of the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) in the Sanicorse case, confirming the Paris Court of Appeals’ holding on excessive prices and, more generally, unfair terms (also called “exploitative abuses”).[1] This is a major setback for the FCA, which intended to use the legal reasoning developed in the Sanicorse decision in other (pricing or non-pricing) unfair terms cases.
FCO Presents Annual Report 2020/2021 Focusing On The Digital Economy
On June 23, 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published its Annual Report 2020/2021[1] as well as its biennial Activity Report 2019/2020. Andreas Mundt, the President of the FCO, pointed out that the FCO’s enforcement activities continue to focus on the digital economy and consumer protection—especially with the help of the FCO’s new enforcement tools created by the recently introduced 10th Amendment of the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (“ARC”)[2]. The reports also provides various enforcement statistics that show that the FCO continues to be a highly active competition law enforcer in the EU.[3]
CMA Publishes Consultation To Replace the Retained Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation
On 17 June 2021, the CMA published a consultation document on its provisional recommendation to replace the retained EU Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation (VABER) with a UK-specific Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order (VABEO) (the CMA Consultation). Currently, agreements benefit from automatic exemption from the UK Chapter 1 Prohibition[1] (the equivalent of Article 101 TFEU) if they meet the criteria set out in the VABER.
ICA Accepts Commitments Offered by Parties To Alleged Anticompetitive Agreement in Scrap Automotive and Industrial Lead-acid Batteries Sector
On June 15, 2021, the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) adopted a decision that made legally binding the commitments offered by certain companies active in the scrap lead-acid batteries sector, in the context of an investigation regarding the alleged coordination of their pricing behavior.[1] These commitments were found to adequately address the ICA’s concern that the companies and the collecting organizations they belonged to may have coordinated their behavior in violation of Article 101 TFEU.
The French Competition Authority Updates Its Notice on Fines
On June 11, 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) published a draft to update its Notice on fines.[1] The draft is subject to a public consultation which was held between June 11 and 25, 2021. According to the FCA, the update was prompted by the entry into force of ordinance No.2021-649 of May 26, 2021, which implements Directive (EU) 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 11, 2018 (“ECN+ Directive”), whose aim is to strengthen and harmonize competition enforcement by national authorities.
FCO Launches Public Consultations on “Self-Cleaning Guidelines”
On June 8, 2021, the FCO published its draft “Guidelines for the premature deletion of an entry in the Competition Register due to self-cleaning”[1] as well as its draft “Practical guide on filing an application for premature deletion”.[2] In addition, it opened public consultations on the drafts. Interested parties were invited to submit their comments by July 20, 2021.