Industries

On May 20, 2019, the Commission carried out dawn raids at the premises of two grocery retailers in France, Casino and Intermarché-Les Mousquetaires.[1] On the same day, the Belgian Competition Authority raided Carrefour and Provera, a joint purchasing venture of grocery retailers Cora, Match, and Louis Delhaize. Although the two series of dawn raids occurred simultaneously, the Commission’s press release leaves open whether the raids were coordinated.

On May 17, 2019, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) unconditionally approved the acquisition of Ascoval by the British Steel group. Ascoval is a steel mill specialized in the production and supply of semi-finished steel products that are necessary for the production of finished steel products. British Steel is a European steel manufacturer that is active in the production of both semi-finished and finished steel products. Given the limited overlap between the Parties’ activities, the FCA did not identify any horizontal or vertical competition concerns arising from the transaction.

On May 16, 2019, the French Conseil constitutionnel validated most of the provisions of the law on business growth and transformation (“loi relative à la croissance et la transformation des entreprises” or “PACTE law”), but deemed that the provisions relating to the transposition of the ECN+ directive into French law violated the Constitution.

On May 16, 2019, the Conseil Constitutionnel issued a decision on the conformity with the French Constitution of various provisions of the Law on the growth and the transformation of companies (“Loi Pacte”).[1] The Conseil censured several provisions of that law for the lack of connection with the initial bill. These included in particular Article 211, which provided the Government with the power to transpose the directive ECN+ into French law, and adopt various measures meant to strengthen the efficiency of procedures implemented by the FCA.

On May 13, 2019, the Commission fined AB InBev €200 million for abusing its dominant position on the Belgian beer market by restricting the ability of Belgian customers to purchase cheaper products from the neighboring Netherlands between February 9, 2009, and October 31, 2016.[1] The Commission’s investigation commenced on June 30, 2016, just a month after it had concluded an in-depth examination of several EU beer markets, including Belgium, in its merger review of AB InBev/SABMiller (“SABMiller Decision”).[2]

On May 9, 2019, the German Federal Administrative Court (“FAC”) ruled that access to the preparatory notes (so-called “opinions”) of the rapporteurs of the FCO’s decision divisions under the German Freedom of Information Act is restricted, because public access to the rapporteurs’ opinions would jeopardize the decision divisions’ deliberation process.[1] The FAC thus ultimately confirmed the FCO’s denial of a journalist association’s access request to information on one of the FCO’s merger assessments, including access to the rapporteur’s opinions.