On 22 March 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued judgments in Cases C-117/20 bpost (bpost) and C-151/20 Nordzucker and Others (Nordzucker). The judgments clarify the scope of protection afforded by the principle of ne bis in idem where EU competition law operates to regulate the same or similar conduct as…
On the 18th of November, the European Court of Justice delivered its Visma (case C-306/20) ruling, that regardless of some important observations, appears to have largely gone unnoticed by the anti-trust community. Probably, overshadowed by the General Court ruling in Google Shopping a few days prior, but from a practical perspective arguably amounts to a…
On 6 October 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its very much-awaited judgment in case C-882/19 Sumal, one of the most important cases in private enforcement of competition law of the last years. For those of you that are new to the case, the facts are as follows. On 24 October 2019, the Audiencia…
On 2 September 2021, the Court of Justice (C-57/19 P) overturned the Judgment of the General Court of 15 November 2018 in the case Tempus Energy v Commission (T-793/14). In its ruling, the Court of Justice provided extensive guidance on which elements may (not) give rise to “doubts” as to the compatibility of a State…
In his Opinions of 2 September 2021, in Cases C-151/20 Nordzucker and C-117/20 Bpost, Advocate General (AG) Bobek recommended that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) set out coherent guidance for national courts on the application of the ne bis in idem principle, upholding the unified test which should rely on three…
The Court of Justice of the European Union provides useful guidance on the interpretation of the concept of “the place where the damage occurred” to ascertain which court within a Member State has jurisdiction over a follow-on cartel damages claim. Pursuant to settled case-law interpreting Article 7(2) Brussels I bis[1], the court having jurisdiction over…
In my second post on matters related to the DMA Proposal (see for another post here), I would like to draw the readers’ attention to the role of the Court of Justice. I am not going to touch upon potential challenges of the DMA or questions of judicial review of acts taken by the Commission…
Even though public enforcement of competition law has traditionally played a significant role in deterring companies from committing antitrust infringements, private enforcement has proved to be an effective ally in this quest. Ever since the adoption of Directive 2014/104/EU (Damages Directive) and, in particular, the European Commission’s (EC) Decision in the Trucks cartel, litigation over…
On 24 March 2021 the Higher Regional Court (‘Oberlandesgericht’) of Düsseldorf put yet another twist to the ‘Facebook Saga’. Although the formal written submission is not yet available, the Düsseldorf closed the hearing by staying the proceedings and announcing the referral to the CJEU of questions on data protection law. Pricing Guns To be…
The recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (“the CJEU”) in Slovak Telekom[1] is a judgment with significant implications. This article, first, summarises the main lessons from Slovak Telecom as regards the indispensability criterion in cases of refusal to supply competitors by dominant companies and, second, speculates on some likely consequences for…
