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Volume 2, issue 28 |
Monday 22 September 2014
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| Summary of Commission decision on Romanian Power Exchange published. On 13 September 2014, the European Commission published in the Official Journal a summary of its March 2014 decision to fine the Romanian Power Exchange, S.C. OPCOM S.A., and its parent company CNTEE Transelectrica S.A. for breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (Case AT.39984 – OPCOM/Romanian Power exchange). The Opinion of the Advisory Committee and the Final Report of the Hearing Officer have also been published. The Commission found that OPCOM has, for five years, abused its dominant position by discriminating against EU-traders on the basis of their nationality or place of establishment by requiring that all participants on OPCOM’s electricity spot markets hold a Romanian VAT registration. This created an artificial barrier to market entry. The Commission imposed a fine of EUR 1,031,000. |
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| Prysmian appeals against power cables cartel decision. On 15 September 2014, details were published in the Official Journal of an appeal by Prysmian and Prysmian cavi e sistemi against the European Commission’s decision on the power cables cartel. Prysmian claims that the Commission unlawfully copied and removed forensic images from the hard disks at its’ premises during the inspections, acting beyond its Regulation 1/2003 powers. It also argues that the Commission breached Article 23(2) of Regulation 1/2003 to the extent that it failed to allocate the responsibility among jointly and severally liable entities and also breached the principle of reasonable delay for competition proceedings (Case T-475/14 - Prysmian and Prysmian cavi e sistemi v Commission). |
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| Summary of power cables cartel decision published. On 17 September 2014, a summary of the European Commission’s decision on the power cables cartel was published in the Official Journal. On 2 April 2014, the Commission adopted a decision against 26 legal entities for infringing Article 101 of the TFEU by participating in a cartel in the power cables sector. The Commission found that the main producers of underground and submarine power cables shared markets and allocated customers between themselves on an almost worldwide scale. The Commission imposed total fines of EUR 301,639,000. Opinions of the Advisory Committee and the Final Report of the Hearing Officer have also been published (OJ 2014 C319/3-5). |
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Phase I Mergers |
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M.7282 – Liberty Global / Discovery / All3Media (16.09.2014)
- M.7300 – COFCO Corporation / Noble Agri (12.09.2014)
- M.7340 – Ferrero International / Oltan Group (12.09.2014)
- M.7346 – Montagu Private Equity SAS / Montagu Private Equity LLP / Astorg Partners SAS / Diacine France SAS
- M.7357 – Metal One / Mitsui & Co. Steel / Metal One Mitsui Bussan Resource & Structural Steel Corporation (16.09.2014)
- M.7361 – M. Kaindl KG / DB Mobility Logistics AG / CTE Container Terminal Enns GmbH (12.09.2014)
- M.7371 – Nordic Capital / Lindorff Group (18.09.2014)
- M.7377 – Centerbridge Partners L.P. / APCOA Parking Holdings GmbH (15.09.2014)
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| ECJ rules that Germany has failed to fulfil obligations to recover state aid granted to Biria. On 11 September 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Germany had failed to fulfil its obligations under the European Commission decision requiring it to recover state aid granted unlawfully to companies in the Biria Group. Although Germany could not be criticised for having chosen to bring civil proceedings before a general court in order to recover the aid, the delays in those proceedings were unjustified and Germany had failed to show that it was impossible for it to fulfil its obligations under the Commission decision requiring recovery (Case C-527/12 - Commission v Germany). |
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| Commission opens two in-depth investigations into support package for the restructuring of FagorBrandt and Mory-Ducros. On 16 September 2014, the European Commission announced that it has decided under Article 6(1)(b) of the EU Merger Regulation to open in-depth state aid investigations into the exceptional and temporary support packages granted by France for the restructuring of each of FagorBrandt and Mory-Ducros. The Commission will investigation whether the support measures were granted under market conditions such that they do not constitute state aid. If it finds that they do constitute state aid, the Commission will assess the compatibility of this aid in accordance with the 2004 Guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty. |
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| Commission approves French aid for SuperGrid research programme to develop innovative energy transmission networks. On 16 September 2014, the European Commission announced that it has decided to approve state aid granted by France to support the SuperGrid research programme to develop innovative energy transmission networks. The Commission has found that the state aid is compatible with its 2014 guidelines on aid for research, development and innovation. It will promote important European objectives such as securing energy supplies and protecting the environment without unduly distorting competition. |
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| Commission approves 2014-2020 regional aid maps for Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. On 16 September 2014, the European Commission announced that it has approved the regional aid maps for 2014 to 2020 for Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy under the new Regional Aid Guidelines. The regional aid maps define the regions in each member state that are eligible for national regional investment aid in accordance with the Regional Aid Guidelines and establish the maximum aid levels for companies receiving aid in the eligible regions. |
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| ECJ ruling on imputability to state of guarantees given by director of public body acting outside his authority. On 17 September 2014, the ECJ gave a ruling on a reference from a Dutch court on questions about the imputability to the State of a guarantee provided by a public undertaking, for the purposes of Article 107(1) of the TFEU. The ECJ ruled that to determine whether or not guarantees provided by a public undertaking are imputable to the public authority controlling that undertaking, it is relevant to take account (together with the overall body of evidence) that the sole director of the company providing those guarantees acted improperly, deliberately kept the provision of those guarantees secret and disregarded the undertaking’s statutes, and also that the public authority would have opposed the granting of the guarantees, had it been informed of it. However, those circumstances can, in themselves, exclude imputability to the public authority only if it can be inferred that the guarantees were provided without the involvement of that same public authority (Case C-242/13 - Commerz Nederland NV v Havenbedrijf Rotterdam NV). |
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| CMA makes initial enforcement order to Grahams The Family Dairy Group and Grahams The Family Dairy. On 15 September 2014, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has made an initial enforcement order under section 72 of the Enterprise Act 2002 addressed to Grahams The Family Dairy Group Limited and Grahams The Family Dairy Limited in relation to the completed acquisition by Grahams The Family Dairy Limited of Quothquan Farms Limited. Section 72 of the Enterprise Act, as amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, allows the CMA to make initial enforcement orders to prevent pre-emptive action in completed (and anticipated) mergers. The order is without prejudice to the CMA’s on-going investigation into this merger. |
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| CMA makes initial enforcement order to Roanza Limited, Enza Group Limited and Robert Smith Group Limited. On 16 September 2014, the CMA announced that it has made an initial enforcement order under section 72 of the Enterprise Act 2002 addressed to Roanza Limited, Enza Group Limited and Robert Smith Group Limited in relation to the completed acquisition by Roanza Limited of Enza Group Limited and Robert Smith Group Limited. The order is without prejudice to the CMA’s ongoing investigation into this completed merger. |
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| Phase I Mergers |
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| Speech by Joaquin Almunia on EU competition policy and sectoral challenges. On 12 September 2014, the European Commission published a speech by Joaquin Almunia, Vice President of the Commission responsible for Competition Policy, on EU competition policy and sectoral challenges. Vice President Almunia discussed interplay between competition policy in the EU and the need to complete the single market. To demonstrate this, he focused on the Commission’s enforcement action in the energy and the digital sector, including telecoms (making particular reference to the Google case and recent telecoms mergers). |
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| Speech by Carlos Esteva Mosso on mergers and the regulatory environment. The European Commission has published a speech on mergers and the regulatory environment given by Carlos Esteva Mosso, Acting Deputy Director-General for Mergers, at the Fordham Conference on Antitrust Law and Policy. Mr Esteva spoke about the regulatory environment for EU merger control, the changes to merger control proposed by the White Paper, how deregulation can lead to merger activity, and sectoral regulation as a factor in merger assessment, in particular in market definition and the design of remedies. |
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