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BIS has launched a consultation on private actions in
competition law. The specific proposals are intended to make it
easier for private parties to challenge anti-competitive behaviour
and include: allowing the Competition Appeal Tribunal to hear
stand-alone actions, introducing a fast-track procedure for SMEs,
introducing an opt-out collective actions regime for competition
law, promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution to ensure that the
courts are the option of last resort and protecting the incentives
provided for companies to whistle-blow on cartels. Click here.
Competition Commission provisionally clears water merger
The Competition Commission has provisionally cleared South
Staffordshire Plc's completed acquisition of Cambridge Water
PLC. The Commission was asked to decide whether the merger may be
expected to prejudice the ability of the Water Services Regulation
Authority (Ofwat) to make comparisons between water enterprises for
the purposes of assessing performance and setting price controls.
The Commission concluded that, on balance, it did not believe the
merger would significantly hinder Ofwat's ability to do so. Click here.
ECJ dismisses Tomra's appeal against abuse of dominance
decision
The European Court of Justice has dismissed the appeal by Tomra
against the judgment of the General Court, which upheld the
European Commission's decision that Tomra had abused its
dominant position in breach of Article 102 in the market for
reverse vending machines by applying a strategy of foreclosure and
that Tomra's agreements (exclusivity agreements, fidelity
rebates and discount schemes) were capable of foreclosing
competition. Click here.
Commission approves Sony and Mubadala's takeover of
EMI's music publishing business at Phase I subject to
conditions
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger
Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control over the music
publishing business of EMI Group by Sony Corporation and Mubadala
Development Company. The decision is conditional upon the
divestiture of the worldwide publishing rights to four catalogues
and the musical works of 12 contemporary authors. In light of these
commitments, the Commission concluded that the transaction would
not raise competition concerns. Click here.
Commission approves acquisition of medical device company
Synthes by Johnson & Johnson subject to conditions
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger
Regulation the proposed acquisition of Synthes Inc. by Johnson
& Johnson, both US companies active in the area of orthopaedic
medical devices, following a Phase II investigation. The
Commission's investigation confirmed that, subject to the
divestment of Johnson & Johnson's trauma business, the
merged entity would continue to face competition from a number of
other strong competitors and that customers would still have
sufficient alternative suppliers in all of the markets concerned.
Click here.
EU
There are no additional items to report this week.
UK
Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
The CAT has received an application by SRCL Limited for review
of the Competition Commission's decision to require it to
divest Ecowaste Southwest Ltd. SRCL claims that the Competition
Commission erred in concluding that the full divestment of Ecowaste
was the only effective remedy for the substantial lessening of
competition identified. Click here.
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission has published a notice confirming
that it has accepted further undertakings to vary the undertakings
that FirstGroup plc gave in 2004 as a condition of the approval of
its acquisition of the Scottish Passenger Rail franchise. Click here.
The Competition Commission has approved BAA's sale of
Edinburgh Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners. The divestment
is one of the remedies resulting from the Commission's report
into BAA's ownership of seven UK airports. Click here.
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On 20 December 2012, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal handed down its judgment on Tesco’s appeal against an earlier Office of Fair Trading decision concerning dairy products retail pricing in the UK.
Yesterday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down its judgment on a preliminary reference from the Danish Supreme Court regarding the rules on selective discounts and below-cost selling under the competition law prohibition of the abuse of a dominant market position.
The General Court of the European Union handed down judgment upholding the decision by the European Commission in 2007 that the member bank delegates of MasterCard had collectively set cross border fall back multilateral interchange fees.
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