Jurisdictions

On April 15, 2020, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) discontinued its proceedings against pay TV broadcaster Sky Ltd. and online streaming service provider DAZN Group Ltd. (“DAZN”) over alleged collusion during the award of the German broadcasting rights to UEFA Champions League matches for the seasons 2018/2019 to 2020/2021 for discretionary reasons.[1]

On April 9, 2020, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) imposed interim measures on Google following three complaints lodged in mid-November 2019 by publishers unions Syndicat des éditeurs de la presse magazine and Alliance de la presse d’information générale and news agency Agence France Presse (the “Decision”). The FCA found that interim measures were necessary to prevent a potential abuse of dominance in the French market for general online search services.[1]

On April 7, 2020, the FCA imposed a €900,000 fine on Pari Mutuel Urbain (“PMU”), the main French horse race betting group, for failing to separate the betting pools of its online and physical activities.[1] PMU had taken this commitment in 2014 in order to end an FCA investigation for a potential abuse of dominance.[2]

On April 3, 2020, the Commission launched a public consultation to review the adequacy of the 1997 Market Definition Notice (the “Notice”), which sets out the Commission’s formal guidance on the definition of relevant product and geographic market.[1] This kicks off a six-week process to solicit opinions from anyone interested.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the French Government has notified a series of measures to the European Commission on the basis of the Temporary Framework adopted by the European Commission in order to enable Member States to support their economy in this specific context.[1] Such measures were authorized by the Commission under Article 107(3)(b) TFEU, as listed below.[2] The Commission also authorized a tax deferral scheme directed at French airlines under Article 107(2)(b) TFEU “to make good the damage caused by natural disasters or exceptional circumstances”.

On April 3, 2020, the Italian Supreme Court upheld the Milan Court of Appeal’s judgment that had dismissed the follow-on damages claim brought by Uno Communications S.p.A. (“Uno”) against Telecom Italia S.p.A. and TIM Italia S.p.A. (“Telecom”), concerning the conduct investigated and fined by the ICA in Case A537.[1]