On November 10, 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) issued a press release[1] indicating that it raided the premises of several companies in the food retail sector suspected of engaging in anticompetitive practices, as well as the homes of some employees.
On November 10, 2021, the General Court upheld the Commission’s decision finding that Google had committed an abuse by favoring its own comparison shopping service (“CSS”).[1] The Commission previously found that Google positioned and displayed, in its general search results pages, its own CSS more prominently than competing CSSs. The Commission imposed on Google a fine of €2.42 billion.[2] In the judgment, the General Court largely dismissed Google’s appeal against the Commission’s decision and confirmed the amount of the fine.
On November 4, 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published an interim report on its sector inquiry into messenger and video services,[1] exploring the necessity of interoperability rules for messaging services. The interim report does not contain recommendations but reserved them for the final report expected to be released in 2022.
On October 29, 2021, the ICA decided to close the investigation into an alleged abuse of dominant position by Husky Injection Molding Systems (“Husky”), without finding any infringement.[1] The ICA found that the evidence collected during the investigation did not allow it to confirm the allegations put forward at the beginning of the proceedings (the “Decision”).
On October 29, 2021, for the first time, the Commission imposed interim measures on companies that closed a deal before obtaining merger approval. On August 18, 2021, U.S. gene-sequencing company Illumina publicly announced it had acquired Grail, a start-up that has developed multi-cancer early detection tests.
On October 20, 2021, the Court of Naples upheld a claim for damages filed by an Italian logistics company (the “Applicant”), on the basis of a European Commission decision of July 2016,[1] against truck manufacturer Iveco S.p.A. (“Iveco”), in connection with the plaintiff’s purchase of numerous trucks from the defendant. According to the European Commission decision, Iveco and four other truck manufacturers colluded for over 13 years on truck pricing and on the costs of compliance with emission rules (the “EC Decision”).[2]
On 19 October 2021, the CAT published its judgment on the strike-out and collective proceedings order (CPO) applications in the claims brought by Mr. Justin Gutmann alleging abuse of dominance by London & South Eastern Railway Limited, First MTR South Western Trains Limited, and Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited.
On 19 October 2021, the CAT made an order permitting Regus Group Services Ltd and IWC plc to withdraw their
In a judgment dated October 19, 2021, the Cour de cassation quashed a Paris Court of Appeal’s judgment invalidating inspections carried out by the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) at Swarovski France’s (“Swarovski”) headquarters in July 2019.[1] The judgment is in line with recent Cour de cassation rulings favorable to the FCA.