France

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.

The French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) considered online and offline sales of toys as forming part of the same market in the context of its investigation of the merger of toy companies Luderix International and Jellej Jouets. The FCA thus relied once more on the methodology it applied in its Fnac/Darty merger clearance decision, when it concluded to the existence of a single market including both physical and online retail channels for the distribution of consumer electronics.

On March 13, 2019, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission, alleging a breach of Article 102 TFEU. The complaint touches on many of the issues surrounding digital platforms that have been a key focus for the Commission in recent years. In particular, there are parallels with the allegations in Google Shopping, that Google abused its platform dominance in general search to benefit its comparison shopping service.

On March 5, 2019, the French Competition Authority celebrated its 10 years of existence. The President of the Competition Authority listed her priorities for the coming years, which include the retail sector and purchasing alliances, digital economy, “predatory” acquisitions and reflection on ex post control, as well as the labour market and labour collective agreements.

In a decision issued on February 28, 2019, the FCA authorized, subject to conditions, the acquisition of the Marie Brizard Group by Compagnie Financière Européenne de Prises de Participation (Cofepp).[1] Marie Brizard and Cofepp’s businesses overlap on the wine and spirits market. After having ruled out any risk of harm to competition on the on-trade channel (cafés, hotels, restaurants, etc.), the FCA examined the effects of the transaction on the mass retail channel.

A chainsaw manufacturer cannot force its distributors to hand-deliver its products when the sale was made online, according to the FCA decision 18-D-23 of October 24, 2018. However, the first President of the Paris Court of Appeal ordered a stay of execution regarding the FCA injunctions which required it to modify the manufacturer’s distribution agreements.

On March 6, 2020, the Commission approved Telecom Italia and Vodafone’s acquisition of joint control over INWIT, which will combine the companies’ 22,000 telecommunication towers in Italy.[1] The approval was obtained during Phase I and is conditioned on third-party access to the infrastructure.