On October 28, 2020, the Court of Justice rejected an appeal by Pirelli & C. SpA (“Pirelli”) against a 2018 judgment of the EU General Court upholding a 2014 Commission decision which held the power cables manufacturer jointly and severally liable, with its former subsidiary Prysmian, for Prysmian’s participation in a bid-rigging cartel. Pirelli’s appeal focused on the concept of parental liability and the Commission’s obligation to explain its reasoning.

On October 27, 2020, the FCO decided that it had no objections to the planned joint venture and cooperation between the German newspaper publishers Süddeutsche Zeitung GmbH (“SZ”) and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH (“FAZ”) relating to the joint commercialization of their national advertising inventory.[1]  Under German law, and in contrast to EU law, potential coordination effects between the parent companies are not already assessed as part of the merger control process relating to the creation of the joint venture, but are reviewed separately under the restrictive practices provisions of the ARC.[2]

On October 27, 2020, the ICA issued a decision (the “Decision”)[1] fining the Italian Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Recovery of Plastic Packaging (“COREPLA”) € 27,400,477 for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the market for management of plastic waste recycling services.

On October 24, 2020, the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio (the “TAR Lazio”) upheld the applications lodged by nine leading captive banks,[1] two further financial institutions holding equity stakes in two of the applicant captive banks, seven automotive groups as well as trade associations Assilea and Assofin, for annulment of the 2018 decision by which the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) imposed on the applicants[2] total fines of approximately €670 million for their participation in a cartel concerning the sale of car vehicles through the provision of financial products.[3]

On October 23, 2020,[1] the TAR Lazio rejected the appeals filed by Ecosumma S.r.l., Bifolco & Co. S.r.l., Ecologica Sud S.r.l., Langella Mario S.r.l.  (the “Companies”) and Green Light Servizi Ambientali S.r.l. (“Green Light”) against a decision issued by the ICA in 2019, finding that the Companies had coordinated their bidding behavior in a tender for medical waste management in the Campania Region, with the assistance of  the third-party consulting firm Green Light.

On October 15, 2020, Advocate General Pitruzzella advised the Court of Justice to overturn the General Court’s annulment of the Commission’s decision that had found that preferential corporate tax rates enjoyed by FC Barcelona and other clubs amounted to unlawful and incompatible State aid.[1] The Advocate General disagrees with the General Court’s conclusion that the Commission failed to show to the requisite legal standard the existence of an advantage in favor of FC Barcelona and proposes to set aside the judgment under appeal on this basis.

On 15 October 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revoked a £300,000 penalty it had imposed on JD Sports Fashion plc for breach of an interim enforcement order (IEO) issued in connection with JD Sports’ completed acquisition of Footasylum plc. The penalty was withdrawn “[i]n light of issues raised on appeal.” This is the first time that a CMA procedural fine has been revoked or overturned on appeal. On 19 and 20 October 2020, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) heard Facebook’s appeal against the CMA’s refusal to grant a derogation from an IEO issued in connection with Facebook’s completed acquisition of GIPHY, Inc. This article considers potential implications of these cases for future UK mergers.

On October 8, 2020,[1] the Paris Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal brought by Google against an interim measures decision issued by the FCA on April 9, 2020 in favor of publishers unions Syndicats des éditeurs de la presse magazine and Alliance de la presse d’information générale, and news agency Agence France Presse.[2] It thereby approved the FCA’s third interim order against the tech giant in a decade. Pending the FCA’s decision on the merits, the Court of Appeals’ order addresses Google’s refusal to engage in negotiations with news publishers and agencies to determine an adequate remuneration for the exploitation of their copyright-related rights.

Following various investigations in the retail sector,[1] the FCA opened another investigation to assess the joint purchasing agreement concluded in August 2018 between Carrefour and Tesco.[2] In this context, in October 2020, the FCA received commitment proposals from the two distributors, redefining the scope of their cooperation on private labels.