Antitrust

The District Court of Oost-Brabant recognized the res judicata effect of a Turkish court of appeal judgment, in which the Turkish court had dismissed antitrust damages claims brought by Vestel against Philips, Samsung, LGE, Technicolor, TTD and TDP.

The Court of Appeal of 's-Hertogenbosch ruled that several producers of prestressing steel are jointly and severally liable for potential loss that Deutsche Bahn may have suffered as a result of an infringement of competition law rules.

On 23 January 2024, the ACM announced its priorities for 2024. The energy transition, the digital economy and sustainability are still on the ACM’s priority list, but now with better-equipped enforcement methods available.

In a judgment of 23 January 2024 (case no. 200.304.621 and 200.304.673), the Court of Appeal ruled that elevator manufacturer Kone can be held liable for damages alleged by 23 parties that combined their claims in a litigation vehicle.

The Belgian Competition Authority imposed a fine of €490,112 on Le Creuset for vertical price fixing (also known as resale price maintenance).

2023 marked the near finale of the European Commission’s overhaul of its competition policy, leaving only a few loose ends to tie up in 2024/2025. It is now time to watch theory be put into practice by the competition authorities and at the courts.

The rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the discretionary powers of international sports associations to authorise alternative competitions show that the specifics of sports are no reason to tread lightly when applying EU competition rules.

Earlier this year, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) entered into force to close a loophole in EU regulations aimed at creating a level playing field within the internal market.

Beware of the fine line in antitrust investigations between illegal fishing expeditions and accidental discoveries pointing at a separate antitrust infringement.

The EU Court of Justice dismissed Amazon’s claim that the exclusion of Italy from the European Commission’s investigation into its Buy Box feature deprived Amazon of its protection against a parallel investigation by the Italian competition authority.

Companies beware: completed non-notifiable concentrations do not necessarily go scot-free. An ex post abuse-of-dominance investigation by national competition authorities (NCA) could still loom.

The European Court of Justice has confirmed that the essential facilities test is limited to ‘pure’ access cases. Infringement of a regulatory access obligation must be assessed under the general framework for abuse of dominance.

While 2022 revolved around new and improved regulatory tools, the focus in 2023 will be on putting these tools to use. More merger-related obligations, digital sector scrutiny and clarity on competition-law and consumer-law aspects is imminent.