European Union

On June 15, 2022, the General Court annulled the Commission’s decision and corresponding fine of €997 million in the Qualcomm case[1] due to procedural violations and a flawed substantive assessment. The General Court first found that the Commission had infringed Qualcomm’s rights of defense by failing to properly inform Qualcomm of meetings with third parties, and failing to hear Qualcomm on the consequences of substantial changes between the Statement of Objections (“SO”) and the final decision.

On April 27, 2022, the European Commission (the “Commission”) approved a State aid scheme of €700 million of the French State “to support research, development and innovation projects by companies of all sizes and active across all sectors”[1] (the “French Scheme” or the “Scheme”). The French authorities estimate the number of beneficiaries of the scheme to range between 11 and 50 companies.[2] The scheme will be in place until December 31, 2023.

On April 7, 2022, Advocate General Szpunar delivered his opinion on the interpretation of Article 5(1) of Directive 2014/104 (the “Damages Directive”) and on the scope of its rules on evidence production.[1] The Advocate General called on the Court of Justice to allow national courts to require defendants to disclose evidence of a type that would require the defendant to compile or classify information rather than merely produce existing material.

The Commission has recently revealed its plan to review two foundations of EU competition law enforcement: Regulation 1/2003 and the Leniency Policy.

On March 30, 2022, after a decade of litigation in over a dozen separate cases, the General Court partially annulled the Commission’s March 17, 2017 decision imposing a €776 million fine on air carriers for coordinated practices and agreements relating to air freight transport between 1999 and 2006.[1] The General Court upheld the Commission’s decision although, in six of 13 appeals lodged against the decision,[2] the Court found that the Commission had infringed procedural rights and/or failed to establish the participation of certain air carriers in certain parts of the infringement. The General Court reduced the corresponding fines and dismissed the remaining seven appeals in their entirety.

On Thursday, March 25, 2022, the European Parliament and EU Member States reached agreement on the final text of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).  The DMA marks a paradigm shift in the regulation of digital markets, giving the European Commission unprecedented powers to regulate leading digital platforms and setting a global standard for other jurisdictions that are developing similar rules.