Fundamental rights

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

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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…

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….

European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Fundamental rights, Merger control, Merger notification, Mergers, Public procurement

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The European Union’s (EU’s) new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), entered into force on January 12, 2023.  The FSR creates a unique new quasi-antitrust regime to combat distortions of competition in the EU internal market caused by subsidies multinationals receive outside the EU.  It imposes new mandatory notification and approval requirements for acquisitions of significant EU…

Advocate General, Fundamental rights, References for a preliminary ruling, Regulation

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“In many places across the European Union, suppliers of taxi services have traditionally been shielded from competition thanks to State regulation, while web-based platforms have started offering local passenger transport-on-demand services with a high degree of zeal, precision and efficiency”. The previous statement was one of the opening lines of the Opinion issued by Advocate…

Cartels, European Court of Justice, European Union, Evidence, Fundamental rights, General Court of the European Union, Procedures

(Advokatfirman Delphi)/ /Leave a comment

In recent years, there has been much talk of ‘due process’ and of ensuring a fair and impartial case handling by competition authorities. The EU Courts consistently stress the importance of respecting the parties’ defence rights but often end up siding with the European Commission. By finding no violation of the parties’ defence rights they…

Abuse of dominance, As Efficient Competitor, Economics, Effects-based, Fundamental rights, General Court of the European Union, Procedures

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The General Court of the European Union delivered a blow to the European Commission in fully annulling its Qualcomm (exclusivity payments) decision of 2018 and a EUR 997 million fine. Qualcomm v Commission[1] is the first annulment of an Article 102 TFEU decision adopted by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The judgment is notably based on the…

European Union, Fundamental rights, General Court of the European Union, Hybrid Settlement, Presumption of Innocence

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The long-awaited judgement of the General Court in the price-fixing case against a world-leading provider of transport solutions, Scania, is out. On February 2, 2022, in a hybrid settlement case, the General Court dismissed the appeal filed by Scania. It upheld the decision of the Commission, which imposed a fine of € 880.5 million for…

European Court of Justice, European Union, Fundamental rights, Ne bis in idem

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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…

Competition proceedings, Fundamental rights, Request for information (RFI), Russia

(Elbert, Nazaretsky, Rakov & Co)/ /Leave a comment

Recently, the Commercial Court of Moscow backed a procedural decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). The FAS fined the Russian IT company Mail.Ru Group for failing to provide the supervisory authority with full information about clients’ mailboxes on their servers. These mailboxes belonged to the Federal Penitentiary Service employees, who were suspected of being…