European Court of Justice

Damages, European Court of Justice, Limitation Period, Principle of Effectiveness, Private enforcement

(Court of Justice of the European Union)/ /Leave a comment

According to the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, the two greatest tyrants on Earth are chance and time. The word ‘tyrant’ is derived from Ancient Greek ‘tyrannos’ to describe an ‘absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution’. Certainly, actions for damages in competition law may depend on numerous factors substantially determined by chance (e.g. questions…

Abuse of dominance, Advocate General, European Court of Justice, Google

(University of Groningen & Emile Noël Fellow at New York University School of Law)/ /Leave a comment

Interpreting and applying Article 102 TFEU – at least in all difficult cases that typically reach the courts – requires a combined reliance on both ‘reason’ and ‘fiat’. It requires reliance on ‘reason’, by which I mean substantive reasoning about how a case should be decided, because no case is exactly like any other, and…

Antitrust, European Court of Justice, Exemptions, Professional body

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Let the waves (or the CJEU) carry you where the light cannot. On January 18, the CJEU delivered its judgment in the Lietuvos notarų rūmai case (C-128/21), where it dealt with the scope of the Wouters exception to the prohibition of cartels (see originally C-309/99). Here, the CJEU had to decide whether a decision of…

Antitrust, European Court of Justice, European Union, Professional body, Sport

(University of Oxford, Somerville College)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On 21 December 2023 the Court changed its interpretation of EU competition law. The three judgments handed down that day asked as many questions as they answered, and it was obvious that further clarification would be required. Already in January 2024 two further rulings – Case C‑128/21 Lietuvos notarų rūmai, and others and Case…

European Court of Justice, Exemptions, Sports law

(Europa Institute, Leiden Law School)/ /1 Comment

On 21 December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its highly anticipated judgment in the European Super League Company (ESL) case (C-333/21), alongside two other rulings dealing with the application of EU competition and free movement law to sports governance: International Skating Union (ISU) v Commission (C-141/21 P) and SA…

Arbitration, CAS, European Court of Justice, Sport, Sports law

(University of Lyon 3 Jean Moulin)/ /Leave a comment

On 21 December 2023, the CJEU hit the newspaper headlines after handing down the judgments in Case C-333/21 European Super League Company, Case C-124/21 P International Skating Union v Commission, and Case C-680/21 Royal Antwerp Football Club (see an analysis of those cases from the antitrust perspective here). All three cases raised complex questions regarding the…

Arbitration, European Court of Justice, Exemptions, Restriction by object, Sport, Sports law

(University of Cologne)/ /1 Comment

On 21st December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) achieved a “hattrick” with three important judgments on the interplay of sports and EU Law. In particular, the CJEU delivered three judgments on sports governing bodies’ statutes compliance with EU Law, especially EU Competition Law. In its ISU (C-124/21 P), ESL (C-333/21),…

European Commission, European Court of Justice, General Court of the European Union, Gun jumping, Merger control, Merger notification, Merger regulation, Merger Thresholds, Mergers

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On 9 November 2023, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that the European Commission (EC) was right to impose two separate fines on Altice for breaching standstill rules and failing to notify its acquisition of PT Portugal, but lowered the fine for failure to notify by €3.1 million. The European Union (EU) merger control…

Collective Redress, Damages, Digital, European Court of Justice, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction clauses, Jurisdictional clause

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The District Court of Amsterdam indicated in a decision published on 22 August 2023 that it intends to refer preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on regional jurisdiction (also referred to as ‘territorial’ jurisdiction) in the context of a WAMCA (Act on Damages Claims in a Collective Action) collective action claim brought…

Competition policy, Competition proceedings, European Court of Justice, Fundamental rights, Guidelines, Türkiye

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With its decision issued on 30 March 2023 (Storytel Decision), the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) evaluated Storytel Turkey Yayıncılık Hizmetleri A.Ş.’s (Storytel) claim that some documents obtained during on-site inspections were covered by attorney-client privilege. This post presents a comparative analysis of the TCA’s approach regarding attorney-client privilege presented in the Storytel decision and the…