Industries

On July 9, 2020, the Commission published its annual report on competition policy, setting out the Commission’s main policy and legislative initiatives, as well as key decisions adopted in 2019.[1]

On July 9, 2020, the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) launched a sector inquiry on the provision and marketing of public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.[1]  While the market is still in its early phase and emerging, the FCO received multiple complaints about prices and conditions at charging stations.

On July 8, 2020, the Paris Court of Appeals (“Court of Appeals”) fully annulled a May 2014 search warrant and subsequent dawn raids carried out at Whirlpool France’s premises (“Whirlpool”).[1] The Court of Appeals also ordered the FCA to return all of Whirlpool’s seized documents.

On July 8, 2020, the Dortmund Regional Court for the first time considered a group liability of all companies forming an economic unit for cartel damages.[1]  The court concluded—in line with the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (“CJEU”) recent case law—that the broader notion of an “undertaking” (in the sense of the economic unit) under EU law also applies in damages actions under national law.

On July 6, 2020, the FCO approved the acquisition of online dating platform provider The Meet Group Inc. (USA), active on the German market through its mobile dating app Lovoo GmbH (“Lovoo”), by the ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (“ProSiebenSat.1”) group, which owns online dating platforms from Parship and Elite Partner.[1]

On June 26, 2020, the Commission opened a public consultation on the 1997 Market Definition Notice (the “Notice”), which sets out the Commission’s formal guidance on the definition of the relevant product and geographic market in competition cases.[1] Until October 9, 2020, anyone interested may visit the Commission’s website (here) and submit comments and respond to the Commission’s questionnaire about the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and value of the Notice as a guidance instrument.

On June 23, 2020, the Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ”) overturned the Düsseldorf Court of Appeals’ (“DCA”) interim decision and rejected Facebook Inc.’s (“Facebook”) request to suspend the enforceability of the Federal Cartel Office’s (“FCO”) prohibition decision.[1] The FCJ disagreed with the FCO’s determination of an abuse based on a violation of data protection law, but instead examined Facebook’s data usage exclusively under competition law.