On May 28, 2025, the French Court of Cassation issued a ruling dismissing an appeal from Ambulances Sannac, a French company providing private ambulance services (“Sannac”) against a decision of the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) finding it had entered into anticompetitive agreements in the sector of inter-communal hospital medical transport. The appeal was dismissed entirely due to a procedural oversight[1].
The French Assemblée Nationale (the “National Assembly”) is currently examining a legislative proposal to increase the French merger control notification thresholds, as part of a broader bill on the simplification of economic life (the “Simplification Bill”). The draft Simplification Bill, already adopted by the French Senate[1] and reviewed by a special commission within the National Assembly, is being discussed in plenary session under the accelerated legislative procedure. [2] If adopted, the new merger control thresholds could be implemented by early 2026 and would significantly decrease the number of transactions reviewed by the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”).
The French Competition Authority (“FCA”) imposed a €150 million fine on Apple for abusing its dominant position between 2021 and 2023 as a distributor of mobile applications on iOS and iPadOS devices through the implementation of “artificially complex” requirements relating to privacy protection.[1]
In January 2025, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) launched a public consultation on the introduction of a merger control framework for transactions that fall below the current turnover-based notification thresholds.[1] Whereas three options were presented in the consultation, on April 10, 2025 the FCA announced that the first option, namely the introduction of a call-in power based on quantitative and qualitative criteria, had received the most positive feedback and was being prioritized.[2]
On April 17, 2025, further to an appeal lodged by a competitor (Valocîme), the Conseil d’Etat upheld the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) decision[1] approving Phoenix Tower International (“PTI”) as purchaser of the passive mobile infrastructure assets which Cellnex had committed to divest as part of the FCA’s review of its acquisition of Hivory.[2] The Conseil d’Etat approved the FCA’s analysis of the independence of the proposed purchaser as well as the absence of new adverse competitive effects due to the purchaser’s acquisition of the divested assets.
In two rulings of April 8, 2025, the French Cour de cassation confirmed that dawn raids may lawfully be conducted at employees’ private residences without requiring additional safeguards beyond those set out in the French Commercial Code.[1]
On March 21, 2025, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) conditionally cleared the acquisition of 98 former Casino food retail stores by Auchan.[1] The FCA decision is conditional on (i) the divestment of one supermarket, and (ii) sharing the sales area of one hypermarket with two competitors.
On January 22, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal (the “Court of Appeals”)[1] upheld the Paris Commercial Court’s dismissal
On January 21, 2025, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) issued its first opinion on a collective agreement in the private-hire vehicle (“PHV”) services sector.[1] Signed on December 19, 2023 by a trade organization representing two ride-hailing platforms and two driver trade unions, the agreement requires platforms to implement a system allowing drivers to set a minimum income per kilometer for the trip requests they receive. If approved by the Autorité des relations sociales des plateformes d’emploi (“ARPE”), the agreement would be extended across the entire sector. The FCA, asked to assess whether the extension of such system could raise competitive concerns, could not rule it out, notably because only the market leader, Uber, is currently capable of implementing it.
On January 15, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal issued a decision in a follow-on damages case brought by French retail companies harmed by a cartel, providing clarifications on how financial damages should be calculated to also reflect the deprivation of funds over time and how responsibility should be shared among the undertakings found liable.[1]