The Commission issued fines totaling €6.5 billion in 2018, which is a new record and almost double the amount of competition fines in 2017.
2018 Year-end Review: Record Amount of Competition Fines, Cartels Fines on the Decline, Increased Practice of Pull-and-Refile in Mergers
The Commission issued fines totaling €6.5 billion in 2018, which is a new record and almost double the amount of competition fines in 2017.
The French Competition Authority Issues a Notice Concerning Settlement Proceedings
Three years after the introduction of a settlement procedure in its legal arsenal, the FCA has issued guidelines on the conduct of settlement proceedings (the “Settlement Notice”). The Settlement Notice aims at clarifying the framework under which companies may be granted fine reductions in the context of antitrust investigations. However, several questions are still pending, including the determination of the final amount of the fine by the FCA’s Collège and the impact of settlement proceedings on follow-on damages claims.
The CNMC Closes an Abuse of Dominance Case against Oracle for the Second Time following a Judgment of the Spanish Supreme Court Clarifying the Scope of Judicial Review of Competition Cases by Limiting Lower Court’s Ability to Substitute the CNMC’s Reasoning with the Court’s Own
On April 10, 2018, the Spanish Supreme Court annulled a judgment of the Spanish High Court, finding an abuse of dominance in a case against Oracle where the Spanish Competition Authority (“CNMC”) had found no infringement.[1] The Supreme Court clarified the scope of whether it was appropriate for the High Court to impose its own reasoning on the CNMC by mandating that it accept the High Court’s view of the facts and law.