Industries

On May 27, 2020, the ICA opened an investigation pursuant to Article 102 TFEU into the conduct of Italgas Reti S.p.A. (“Italgas”), a fully-owned subsidiary of Italgas S.p.A.[1] The supply of gas distribution services in Italy is organized by areas comprising small groups of municipalities, called ‘minimum territorial areas’ (“ATEM”s).[2] In the ICA’s view, Italgas abused the dominant position it holds in the Venice ATEM market, comprising eight municipalities, in which it is currently the exclusive licensee of the gas distribution services in four municipalities (including Venice).

Following the Commission’s roadmap and launch of the public consultation process,[1] on May 26, 2020, the Commission published the final report[2] with support studies for the evaluation of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (the “VBER”).[3] The report is part of the Commission’s evaluation of the VBER, which is set to expire on May 31, 2022.

On May 26, 2020, the FCA conditionally approved Bernard Hayot Group’s €219 million acquisition of the Vindémia Group—one of the largest deals in French overseas territories ever reviewed by the FCA.[1] Further to an on-site investigation, the FCA cleared the transaction in Phase I, subject to a fix-it-first remedy and behavioral commitments.

On May 26, 2020, the Paris Court of Appeals confirmed the €0.9 million fine imposed on Akka Group for obstructing dawn raids conducted on its premises, including by breaking seals. This was the second decision issued by the FCA for dawn raid obstruction and the first one for breaking seals.

On May 19, 2020, the Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ”) overturned a judgment of the Munich Court of Appeal in one of the numerous cartel follow-on damages actions brought against members of the so-called Rail Cartel (“Schienenkartell”), this time by the Munich Transportation Authority.[1]  The FCJ once more confirmed its decisional practice in the case of quota and customer protection cartels, according to which there can be no prima facie evidence that damages were incurred and/or whether individual purchase orders were affected by the cartel.[2]  The decision had to be reversed, for the Munich Court of Appeal had based its decision on such prima facie evidence.  Of particular interest is the FCJ’s reasoning on two other issues:

On May 18, 2020, the French Cour de Cassation upheld the Paris Court of Appeals’ judgment which had confirmed the French Competition Authority’s (“FCA”) fining decision against Groupement des Installateurs Français (“GIF”). The Cour de Cassation held that the FCA’s Collège could re-open the investigation to allow the FCA’s investigation services to add evidence on which they relied for establishing the statement of objections (“SO”) but that they “inadvertently omitted” to include in the case file. The defendant’s response to the flawed SO can remain in the case file despite the fact that the defendant did not have access to that evidence when preparing its response, as long as the defendant is given the chance to reply to a supplementary SO after the investigation is re-opened.

On May 18, 2020,[1] the TAR Lazio rejected the applications for annulment of the ICA decision of February 13, 2019, brought by Airgreen S.r.l., Star Work Sky S.a.s., Elitellina S.r.l., Elifriulia S.r.l., Babcock Mission Critical Services Italia Sau, Heliwest S.r.l., Eliossola S.r.l. and the Italian Helicopter Association. By the said decision, the applicants were fined in a total amount of approx. €67,000,000 for anticompetitive conduct infringing Article 101 TFEU with regard to the award of contracts for forest fire-fighting activities.[2]