On October 17, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeals confirmed the FCA’s decision against Stihl for online sales restrictions, but reduced the fine from EUR 7 million to EUR 6 million.[1]
French Competition Authority Launches Consultation on Revised Merger Guidelines
On September 16, 2019, the French competition authority (“FCA”) launched a two-month public consultation on revised merger guidelines (“the draft guidelines”), which constitutes the final step of the modernization and simplification of merger control the FCA had initiated in the fall of 2017. This overhaul of the FCA’s merger control guidelines aims to extend the scope of the simplified procedure, update the 2013 guidelines with recent case law and the FCA’s exchanges with the European Commission and other national competition authorities, while reorganizing the guidelines and enriching them with examples. The public consultation was open until November 16, 2019. The new guidelines are scheduled to be adopted before the end of the year.
Amazon Fined €4 Million for Restrictive Trade Practices
On September 2, 2019, the Paris Commercial Court sanctioned Amazon for having imposed unfair conditions on businesses selling on its platform. Amazon received a record fine of €4 million and was ordered to remove or modify the contentious clauses from its contracts and terms of use within six months, failing which it will incur a periodic penalty of €10,000 for each day’s delay.
The Polynesian Competition Authority Fines a Company for Excessive Prices for the First Time
On August 22, 2019, the Polynesian Competition Authority (PCA) imposed a fine of 235 million CFP francs (about 2 million euros) on the retail division of the Wane group for having imposed excessively high prices for the refrigeration of its suppliers’ beverages.[1] This is the first abuse of dominance decision and, more generally, the first contentious ruling by the PCA since its creation in 2016.
The French Competition Authority Clears Ineos’ Acquisition of the OGC Nice Football Club
On August 21, 2019, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of the SASP Olympic Gymnast Club of Nice (“OGC Nice”) by Ineos,[1] thereby issuing the first merger decision in Europe relating to a professional football club.
The FCA Conditionally Approves the Creation of TV Platform Salto
On August 12, 2019, the FCA approved, subject to remedies, the creation of TV platform Salto by TF1, France Télévisions (“FTV”), and Métropole Télévision (“M6”) following a referral by the European Commission. Salto is intended to offer television services, including free-to-air digital terrestrial television (“DTT”) channels and related (e.g. catch-up TV) services and functionalities, together with subscription video on-demand services. Salto’s offering will be distributed directly over the internet (known as “over-the-top” or “OTT”).
The Paris Court of Appeals Rules That Undertakings May Challenge the Proportionality of Fines Imposed in Settlement Proceedings
On June 13, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeals ruled that an undertaking can challenge the proportionality of a fine set by the FCA within the range agreed with the Rapporteur Général during a settlement procedure.[1]
The Paris Court of Appeals Upholds the FCA’s Decision Against Janssen- Cilag’s Defamatory Practices
On July 11, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeals dismissed most of the pharmaceutical company Janssen-Cilag’s claims in its appeal against the FCA decision fining it for delaying market entry of a generic drug[1], thereby essentially upholding the FCA’s third decision fining a pharmaceutical company for denigrating generic drugs after Sanofi-Aventis[2] and Schering-Plough.[3]
The FCA Publishes Its 2018 Annual Report
The FCA published its 2018 annual report, which, this year, also provides an overview of the FCA’s policy and results over the last decade (see our article published in the April newsletter[1]).
European Champions Debate Continues
On July 4, 2019, France and Germany, joined by Poland, issued a joint call to modernize European competition rules (“Joint Statement”).[1] This follows the publication in February 2019 of a Franco-German Manifesto for a European industrial policy to foster the creation of European champions.[2] The Joint Statement scales back some of the Manifesto’s far-reaching ideas.