Winston & Strawn Antitrust and Competition - The EU Weekly Briefing, Volume 1, Issue1

Volume 1, Issue 1
Monday 22 October 2012

Antitrust and Competition – The EU Weekly Briefing

ECJ refuses Schenker AG permission to intervene in appeals against the Commission Decision in the air cargo cartel (COMP/39258). In the order, the ECJ opined that the fact that an undertaking is a customer of undertakings participating in a cartel is not sufficient, in itself, to establish the right to intervene (see: Case C-589/11 P(I) Schenker v Air France and Commission, Case C-590/11 P(I) Schenker v Air France-KLM and Commission, Case C-596/11 P(I) Schenker v KLM and Commission, Case C-598/11 P(I) Schenker v Cathay Pacific Airways and Commission, C-600/11 P(I) Schenker v Lan Airlines and Others, and C-602/11 P(I) Schenker v Deutsche Lufthansa and Others).

ECJ dismisses appeals by Otis and UTC against General Court judgments on the lifts and escalators cartel (COMP/38823). The ECJ found that the grounds of appeal were either unfounded or inadmissible and, in particular, that the General Court had properly applied the law relating to parental liability with respect to wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures (see: Case C-493/11 P United Technologies Corporation v Commission and Case C-494/11 Otis Luxembourg Sarl, Otis SA, Otis GmbH & Co, Otis BV and Otis Elevator Company v Commission).

ECJ dismisses WWTE appeal against General Court judgment on Spanish raw tobacco cartel. The ECJ order dismissed in its entirety the appeal by World Wide Tobacco España (WWTE) (C-240/11 P World Wide Tobacco España v Commission, not yet available in English).

UK damages action brought in animal feed phosphates cartel. The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has published a summary of a notice of a damages claim under s. 47A of the Competition Act 1998 brought by 15 claimants against Tessenderlo Chemie N.V and its UK subsidiary, Britphos Limited (Case No. 1201/5/7/12 - Vion Food Group Limited & Ors v. (1) Tessenderlo Chemie N.V. (2) Britphos Limited). The claimants were purchasers of feed phosphates during the period of the animal feed phosphates cartel (see Commission Decision in Case COMP/38866).

Phase I Clearance

M.6662 Andritz IV/Schuler (IP/12/1104, 16.10.2012).

European Commission consults on telecoms markets Recommendation. The Commission has launched a public consultation with a view to updating the current list of relevant wholesale and retail telecoms markets subject to review by National Regulatory Authorities. Such markets include retail access to the public telephone network and wholesale broadband access, and was last updated in 2007. The Consultation ends on January 8, 2013 (IP/12/1105, 16.10.2012).

UK OFT launches revised Competition Act 1998 procedures guidance. The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has this week published the final version of its revised guidance on procedures in Competition Act 1998 investigations. (OFT 91/12, 16.10.2012)

UK OFT publishes details of ongoing Competition Act 1998 investigations. The OFT web page lists ongoing investigations which have been formally opened by the OFT under Chapter I or Chapter II of the CA 1998, and/or Article 101 or 102 TFEU (see: OFT Current Cases).

Competition Policy Work Programme for 2013/14. The European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia, has presented the competition-policy work programme of the Commission for 2013 and 2014 (SPEECH/12/701).

Amendments to the UK cartel offence. The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has announced a package of government amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, including in relation to the Enterprise Act criminal cartel offence (see: BIS website).

Annual Public Procurement Implementation Review 2012. The Commission has published the first Annual Public Procurement Report (SWD (2012) 342 final).

EU Economic Sanctions Updates

During this week, further to the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council held on 15 October 2012, EC Regulations have been published in the Official Journal updating lists of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures with respect to Iran, Syria, and Somalia.

The Council also considers it necessary to adopt additional substantive restrictive measures against Iran (Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP). Regulations implementing these measures are expected to be published in the Official Journal in due course.

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