European Court of Justice

Abuse of dominance, Czech Republic, Damages, European Court of Justice, National court, Private actions, Private enforcement

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Summary of Facts On 21 September 2023 the Advocate General Juliane Kokott presented her opinion in the Case C-605/21, Heureka Group a.s. v. Google LLC. The opinion addresses a request for a preliminary ruling from the Prague Municipal Court, which is hearing Heureka’s follow-on action against Google based on the Commission’s Decision C(2017) 4444 final…

Abuse of dominance, Data protection, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, European Court of Justice, Germany, Google, National competition authorities (NCAs)

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On 5 October 2023, the German competition authority adopted its first tangible evidence of enforcement surrounding its new competition rules (Section 19a GWB) directed at undertakings with paramount significance for competition across markets on its case against Google for its data processing terms (see the Bundeskartellamt’s decision designating Alphabet here and a previous comment on…

Abuse of dominance, Advocate General, Anticompetitive agreements, European Court of Justice, European Union, Sport, Sports law

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Introduction One of the biggest controversies in European football right now is the fight between UEFA, Europe’s continental football association, and the European Super League (ESL), a proposed breakaway league composed of some of the biggest clubs and commercial names in the sport; a case arising out of the dispute recently reached the European Court…

Advocate General, European Court of Justice, European Union, Fundamental rights, Regulation, SGEI

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My previous comment on Case-50/21 Prestige and Limousine SL v Área Metropolitana de Barcelona et al (see here) started with the following question: “Are the Supposed Regulatory Privileges of the Taxi Sector Coming to an End? The Opinion of AG Szpunar in Case C‑50/21”. The conclusions in the ECJ judgment of June 8, 2023 (Judgment)…

European Court of Justice, Foreign direct investment, Fundamental rights, Hungary, Regulation

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Loosely based on the lyrics of the band Wu-Tang Clan, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) took a closer look at the acquisition of a Hungarian gravel pit in its judgment of 13 July 2023, C- 106/22, and found some rather big “stones” to turn around with regard to FDI in Europe….

Ancillary, Anticompetitive agreements, Burden of Proof, Competition enforcement, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Germany, References for a preliminary ruling, Regulation, Restriction by object, Sport

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Sport itself is all about the competition on the pitch. However, sports federations’ actions and regulations have come increasingly into the focus of competition watchdogs and courts worldwide. A well-known example is the dispute over the establishment of the European Super League. As the recently announced merger between golf associations PGA and L.I.V. demonstrates, competition…

European Court of Justice, Exemptions, National competition authorities (NCAs), National court, Portugal, Price fixing, Resale price maintenance, Restriction by object, Unilateral effects, Vertical agreements

, , (Morais Leitão)/ /1 Comment

Introduction On 29 June 2023, the European Court of Justice (ECJ or Court) issued its judgment in case C-211/22, where it reiterates the legal framework applicable to vertical price fixing agreements under EU competition law. The focus on the need to assess the legal and economic context in which the agreement is celebrated is particularly…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Advocate General, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany, References for a preliminary ruling

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /2 Comments

On 4 July 2023, the Court of Justice resolved the conundrum around the potential interaction between data protection regulation and competition law following the legal opera that started in 2019 with the German competition authority’s case against Facebook/Meta’s processing activities (for a summary of the case, see here). The ruling hops onto Advocate General Rantos’…

Competition enforcement, Damages, European Court of Justice, National competition authorities (NCAs), National court, Private enforcement, References for a preliminary ruling

(University of Göttingen, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

In a preliminary reference procedure stemming from a private cartel damages action in Spain, the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ’ or ‘the Court’) had to rule on the binding effects of national competition authorities’ (‘NCAs’) decisions for private enforcement as evidence before national courts. Besides, another question concerned the effects of the automatic nullity of…

Abuse of dominance, As Efficient Competitor, European Commission, European Court of Justice, Guidance, Guidelines, Margin squeeze, Restriction by effect

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The European Commission (the Commission) has launched a project to codify EU law on the application of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to exclusionary abuses of dominant positions, such as exclusive dealing, tying and bundling, predatory pricing, refusals to supply and margin squeezes. The Commission published a…