Industries

In four judgments issued on December 28 to 30, 2020,[1] the Council of State upheld four rulings of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (“TAR Lazio”),[2] which had set aside an infringement decision issued by the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) against the Italian top tier football league (Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A, “Lega”), its advisor Infront Italy S.r.l. (“Infront”), and TV broadcasters Sky Italia S.r.l. (“SKY”), Reti Televisive Italiane S.p.A. and its subsidiary Mediaset Premium S.p.A. (jointly, “Mediaset”; together with Lega, Infront and Sky, the “Parties”), regarding an alleged anticompetitive agreement to alter the award of TV broadcasting rights for Lega’s 2015-2018 seasons (the “ICA Decision”).[3] The Council of State confirmed that the ICA failed to prove that broadcasters colluded with Lega and Infront over the assignment of broadcasting rights.

On December 23, 2020, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) presented a summary report of its 2020 activity and set out its priorities for 2021.[1]

On December 22, 2020, the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) jointly and severally fined – in a total amount of approximately €10 million – the corporate entities belonging to the Eventim- TicketOne Group (“TicketOne Group”), namely: CTS Eventim AG & Co. KGaA (“CTS Eventim”), its subsidiary TicketOne S.p.A. (“TicketOne”), as well as five promoters of pop music live events in Italy, namely, Di and Gi S.r.l. (“Di&Gi”), F&P Group S.r.l. in liquidazione (“F&P Group”), Friends & Partners S.p.A. (“Friends&Partners”), Vertigo S.r.l. (“Vertigo”) and Vivo Concerti S.r.l. (“Vivo Concerti”, together, the “Promoters”), which CTS Eventim indirectly acquired between September 2017 and April 2018.[1] The ICA decision found that the TicketOne Group and the Promoters violated Article 102 TFEU by engaging since 2013 in a single and complex abusive strategy in the market for the provision of ticketing services for live pop music concerts (the “Decision”).

On December 22, 2020, the TAR Lazio quashed an infringement decision issued by the ICA (“ICA Decision”) against the public utility company Hera Holding Energia Risorse Ambiente S.p.A. (“Hera”) and its subsidiary Herambiente S.p.A. (“Herambiente”).[1] The ICA Decision found an alleged abuse of dominant position in the markets for the collection of waste paper in a number of municipalities in the region of Emilia- Romagna, for having favored Akron S.p.A. (“Akron”) – Herambiente’s subsidiary active in downstream markets – to the detriment of competitors.[2]

Kaufland/Real and Globus/Real

On December 22, 2020, the FCO cleared the acquisitions of up to 92 “Real” retail stores from SCP Retail S.à.r.l. (“SCP”) by Kaufland Immobilien & Co. KG and Kaufland Dienstleistung GmbH (“Kaufland”)[1] and of up to 24 stores by Globus Holding GmbH & Co. KG (“Globus”).[2] The clearance of Kaufland’s acquisition was subject to Kaufland foregoing the acquisition of nine of the originally planned 101 stores to address concerns in individual local sales markets. Further, SCP undertook to sell Real stores with a total procurement volume of € 200 million p. a. to medium-sized retailers.

On December 17, 2020, the Hanover Regional Court ordered the disclosure of the confidential version of an infringement decision of the EC (the “Infringement Decision”).[1] It is the first decision granting access to a confidential version of a previously nondisclosed decision by a competition authority. Other courts have shown a tendency to limit the scope of the disclosure rights.[2]

On December 16, 2020, the General Court partially annulled the Commission’s decision in the International Skating Union’s Eligibility rules case.[1] The General Court upheld the Commission’s finding that the International Skating Union’s (“ISU”) eligibility rules (“Eligibility Rules”), which prescribed severe penalties on participants of third-party events not authorized by the ISU, were in breach of Article 101 TFEU.

On December 15, 2020, the Commission published its proposal for the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”),[1] which would impose a list of  ex  ante  obligations on designated large online platforms that meet certain thresholds. The proposed DMA aims at preventing practices by large online platforms that, according to the Commission, either fall outside or cannot be effectively addressed by the existing EU competition rules. The DMA would represent a far-reaching expansion of the Commission’s regulatory powers in digital markets, and would significantly increase the regulatory burden on the designated companies.