On August 26, 2019, the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal (“DCA”), in an interim decision, suspended the German Federal Competition Office’s (“FCO”) prohibition decision against Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”), expressing “serious doubts” about its legal basis.[1] This decision marks not only the second major setback for the FCO after the DCA’s annulment of the FCO’s Booking.com decision on price parity clauses earlier this year.[2] It might also constitute a major setback for the FCO’s efforts to act as a leading enforcer of competition law in the digital economy.

On August 22, 2019, the Polynesian Competition Authority (PCA) imposed a fine of 235 million CFP francs (about 2 million euros) on the retail division of the Wane group for having imposed excessively high prices for the refrigeration of its suppliers’ beverages.[1] This is the first abuse of dominance decision and, more generally, the first contentious ruling by the PCA since its creation in 2016.

On August 19, 2019, the German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs, Peter Altmaier, applied the rarely used ministerial right[1] to overrule the FCO’s prohibition of a joint venture between Miba AG (“Miba”) and Zollern GmbH & Co. KG (“Zollern”) and cleared the transaction subject to commitments.[2] The Monopolies Commission, an advisory body to the German federal government, had previously issued a non-binding recommendation to reject Miba’s and Zollern’s request for ministerial clearance.[3]

On 16 August 2019, the CAT ruled on the time limit for the Secretary of State to issue a PIIN (and make a Phase 2 reference) in respect of certain acquisitions of shares in Lebedev Holdings Limited (LHL) and Independent Digital News and Media (IDNM) (see Article above). LHL and IDNM argued that this had been made out of time.

On August 12, 2019, the FCA approved, subject to remedies, the creation of TV platform Salto by TF1, France Télévisions (“FTV”), and Métropole Télévision (“M6”) following a referral by the European Commission. Salto is intended to offer television services, including free-to-air digital terrestrial television (“DTT”) channels and related (e.g. catch-up TV) services and functionalities, together with subscription video on-demand services. Salto’s offering will be distributed directly over the internet (known as “over-the-top” or “OTT”).

On July 31, 2019, the ICA issued a decision stating that Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (“FS”), Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A. (“RFI”) and Trenitalia S.p.A. (“Trenitalia”) had abused their dominant position in the markets for rail infrastructure management and regional rail passenger transportation services in Veneto (the “Decision”).[1] However, the ICA imposed on the firms concerned a symbolic fine of only €1,000, taking into account the fact that the contested practices would ultimately lead to improvements and innovation in the railway infrastructure.

On July 30, 2019, the Milan Court of Appeal (the “Court of Appeal”) fully upheld a ruling of the Milan Court finding that Società per Azioni Servizi Aeroportuali (“SEA”) and Aeroporti di Roma (“ADR”) had put in place several anticompetitive practices in violation of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.[1]