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.

On April 20, 2021, the Commission fined Österreichische Bundesbahnen (“ÖBB”), Deutsche Bahn (“DB”) and Société Nationale des Chemins de fer belges/Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen (“SNCB”) for their participation in a customer allocation cartel in the market for cross-border rail cargo transport services on blocktrains. The fine imposed amounts to a total of approximately €48 million and includes reductions following the leniency application of all three companies and their settlement with the Commission.[1]

In recent years, the CMA has been strengthening its approach to merger control as it prepares for its new status as a global enforcer with expanded jurisdiction following the UK’s exit from the EU. Since 1 January 2021, the CMA has been able to investigate the UK aspects of mergers that also qualify for review by the EU Commission (EC). Many transactions, including major global deals, are therefore now subject to parallel review by the EC and CMA.

On April 29, 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) issued its opinion on the competitive situation in the payment sector (the “Opinion”).[1] Although the Opinion concludes that recent developments—including the introduction of new technologies in payment activities and the proliferation of FinTech companies—are “overall procompetitive”,[2] it raises a number of areas of potential concern on which the FCA pledges to keep a close eye. The Opinion particularly stresses the risks stemming from the expansion of BigTech in the sector.

On April 19, 2021, the Commission accepted a referral request by the French competition authority of genomic sequencing company Illumina’s planned acquisition of biotech company Grail under Article 22 EUMR.[1] This marks the first effective upward referral of a ‘below threshold’ transaction, i.e., a transaction that neither meets national nor EU merger control thresholds.[2]