On December 9, 2021, following ex officio proceedings,[1] the German Cartel Office (“FCO”) concluded that the acquisition of customer relationship management software provider Kustomer, Inc., (“Kustomer”) by Facebook Inc., re-named Meta Platforms Inc. (“Meta”) since October 2021, is notifiable under the German merger control regime as it falls under the € 400 million transaction value threshold of the ARC[2] and asked Meta to submit documents to review the transaction.[3]  On January 11, 2022, the parties notified the transaction to the FCO.

On December 9, 2021, Advocate General (“AG”) Rantos delivered his opinion on the questions referred to the Court of Justice (“ECJ”) by the Italian Consiglio di Stato in case Servizio Elettrico Nazionale.[1] The Consiglio di Stato is seeking clarification of certain aspects of the concept of “abuse” under Article 102 TFEU.

Introduction

On December 9, 2021, the Commission published its Draft Guidelines on the application of EU competition law to collective agreements regarding working conditions of solo self-employed people (the “Draft Guidelines”).[1] The Draft Guidelines, along with a proposal for a directive[2] and a communication,[3] form part of a broader package aimed at improving the working conditions of persons operating on digital labor platforms.[4]

On December 9, 2021, the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) imposed a €100,000 fine on Mayotte Channel Gateway (“MCG”), the manager and operator of the Longoni port in Mayotte, together with its parent company, Société Nel Import Export, for refusal to comply with an FCA request for information. 

On December 7, 2021, the Commission, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) published a Joint Statement establishing the EU-U.S. Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue (the “Policy Dialogue”).

Businesses applying for aid in disadvantaged regions of the EU will face new rules after December 31, 2021.

The new…

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In a ruling dated December 2, 2021, the Paris Court of Appeals overturned a 2010 decision in which the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) had fined 11 major French banks for colluding on check handling fees, possibly bringing the 11-year saga to an end.  The ruling confirms that the concept of by-object restriction should be interpreted restrictively, in line with a judgment issued by the French Cour de cassation in the same case in 2020.

In 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) concluded three major proceedings on resale price maintenance and vertical price fixing.  It fined five musical instrument companies a total of € 21 million for resale price maintenance and horizontal price-fixing, a backpack maker € 2 million for setting minimum retail prices, and consumer electronics manufacturer € 7 million for resale price maintenance.  These cases illustrate that the FCO considers resale price maintenance a serious infringement for which it imposes significant fines.