Topics

On May 12, 2021, following an in-depth “Phase 2” review, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) issued its second ever merger control prohibition decision, as it considered that Ardian’s proposed acquisition of sole control over pipeline company Société du Pipeline Méditerrannée-Rhône (“SPRM”) raised serious competition concerns.[1]

On 10 May 2021, the CAT issued a supplementary judgment in the appeals against a decision of the CMA of 12 February 2016. This followed the CAT’s previous judgment of 8 March 2018, by which certain questions were referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The CJEU issued its ruling on these questions on 30 January 2020.

In a series of judgments delivered on May 24, 2021,[1] the TAR Lazio almost entirely upheld an ICA decision that imposed over €287 million in fines on 23 companies and one trade association for two distinct anticompetitive agreements in the corrugated cardboard sector.[2]

Background

On May 5, 2021, the Commission proposed a draft regulation to tackle potential distortions in the internal market caused by foreign subsidies (“Draft Regulation”).[1]

On May 3, 2021, the European Commission fined life science company Sigma-Aldrich € 7.5 million for providing incorrect or misleading information during the Commission’s 2015 review of Merck’s acquisition of the company. The fine marks another step in an increasingly stringent approach to enforcing the procedural rules that apply during the Commission’s merger control process.[1]

On April 29, 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) unconditionally cleared Vivendi’s acquisition of Prisma Media, a French press publishing group.[1] The FCA found that the proposed transaction did not create any significant impediment to effective competition, despite the existence of conglomerate relationships between the Parties’ activities.

On April 27, 2021, the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) imposed a fine of €102 million on Alphabet Inc., Google LLC and Google Italy S.r.l. (together, “Google”) for an alleged refusal to allow an electric vehicle (“EV”) charging app developed by Enel X (named “JuicePass”) to be published on Google’s Android Auto platform.[1]

On April 27, 2021, the ICA imposed a fine on Società Cooperativa Taxi Torino, a cooperative of taxi operators (hereinafter “Taxi Torino”), for abusing its dominant position in the market for the collection and sorting of taxi orders in the municipality of Turin (the “Decision”).[1] In particular, following a complaint submitted by a company that manages a mobile app connecting taxi drivers and consumers (Mytaxi Italia S.r.l.; “Mytaxi”), the ICA’s investigation focused on some clauses in Taxi Torino’s by-laws, which imposed a non-compete obligation on taxi drivers participating in Taxi Torino’s network and had the effect of foreclosing the market, also in light of Taxi Torino’s dominant position and the lack of actual competition.