Archive for the ‘Case-Law’ Category
Today’s Output
- At last, the Intel decision is out. Until today, Commission officials had presented this decision as THE foremost illustration of the new effects-based, economic, approach. Now, at least, we can check whether that’s true. At first glance, the huge amount of intent-related evidence that is relied upon by the Commission to establish an infringement seems to call for a little more nuance.
- I just posted on ssrn a new paper on the effects-based approach pursuant to the Guidance Communication. The paper should appear in December in World Competition. Much to my dismay, I will have to update it in light of Intel, and go through the scarry 518 pages Commission decision.
- Seminars on antitrust law. See here for the 2009-2010 season of the “Mardis du droit de la concurrence” and below for a lunch seminar on penalties for antitrust infringements (with. W. Wils, Commission and King’s College).
(Image possibly subject to copyright. Source: Wikipedia)
Rarities – Commission Decision on Excessive Pricing
In searching through rejected complaints on the Commission’s website, I excavated a decision which, once more, witnesses the Commission’s reluctance to uphold excessive pricing claims.
In AIA SA and Olympic Fuel Company SA, the complainants alleged that the Athens international airport (Spata) imposed, amongst others, excessive taxes on passengers, charges on air companies, parking fees on travellers, etc.
The Commission bluntly dismissed the complaint, alluding to the burdensome nature of investigations into alleged excessive pricing strategies ( §43 “the efforts required in the present case to establish with certainty the existence of the alleged infringements would be disproportionate … in light of the significance of these alleged infringements as regards the functioning of the relevant market“). Also, the Commission’s decision illustrates the challenges of finding appropriate benchmarks with a view to perform price comparisons accross countries/services (See notably, §§84-89).
Source: Case COMP/D3/38469, 2 May 2005.
(Image possibly subject to copyright. Source: wikipedia)
Antitrust Stories
For all competition geeks, the story behind the ECJ ruling in Stanley George Adams v Commission (Case 145/83 [1985] ECR 3539) is an absolute MUST READ. Sadly enough, in addition to important financial implications, antitrust cases also have all sorts of tragic consequences.
Chillin'Competition 
