Antitrust Newsletter nº 28

INDEX

EUROPEAN UNION

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

• The Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with browser commitments
• The Commission prohibits the purchase of Air Lingus by Ryanair
• The Commission fines Telefónica and Portugal Telecom €79 million for a non-compete agreement

RECENT CASE LAW

• New clarifications regarding the concept of State aid: judgment of the CJEU in the France Télécom case
• The CJEU prohibits a cartel set up to eliminate a competitor which operated in the market in question illegally
• The CJEU annuls the GC ruling which rejected an appeal by Mindo, a former subsidiary of Alliance One

SPAIN

LEGISLATION

Main new organizational and functional features introduced by the Spanish Congress into the Bill on the Creation of the National Markets and Competition Commission

DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL COMPETITION COMMISSION

• The Spanish Competition Authority imposes fines totaling more than €44 million on companies in the paper envelopes cartel
• The CNC clears, subject to commitments, the concentration consisting in the acquisition by Disa of joint control over Shell
• The CNC clears, subject to conditions, the partial lifting of the suspension on the Cope/Vocento/Punto Radio merger which it subsequently cleared with commitments
• The CNC closely monitors compliance with commitments and fines Prisa and Telefónica and Mediaset for their breach
• The CNC clears the Deoleo / Hojiblanca concentration subject to commitments
• The CNC fines members of a polyurethane foam manufacturers’ cartel
• The CNC fines the members of the Cantabrian asphalt cartel

RECENT CASE LAW

The Audiencia Nacional annuls certain fines imposed on companies participating in the highway tenders cartel

PORTUGAL

Portuguese Competition Authority fines undertakings for non-notification of concentration