The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court upholding the Commission’s 2019 decision prohibiting the creation of a joint venture by Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp under the EU Merger Regulation (‘EUMR’).
In its judgement, the General Court fully upheld the Commission’s assessment.
The General Court further found that the Commission correctly concluded that the remedies offered by the parties were insufficient to eliminate the identified significant impediments to effective competition.
See also Curia's press release (in pdf format).

The Commission takes note of the judgments of the Court of Justice setting aside the General Court’s judgments of 2019.
The Court of Justice largely confirms the Commission's decision of 2015 imposing fines on the optical disc drives suppliers for their cartel activities in the procurement tenders for optical disc drives for laptops and desktops produced by Dell and Hewlett Packard.
The Court of Justice confirmed that it did not identify any grounds justifying it to reduce the amount of the fines imposed on the undertakings.
See also:

• Curia's press release (in PDF format)
• Judgement in Sony Optiarc and Sony Optiarc America v Commission
• Judgement in Quanta Storage v Commission
• Judgement in Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology and Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Korea v Commission

The European Commission takes note of today's judgement by the General Court that annulled the Commission’s 2018 Decision which found that Qualcomm had abused its dominant position.
The Commission will carefully study the judgement and its implications and will reflect on possible next steps.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

The Commission takes note of the judgments of the General Court dismissing most of the actions brought by air cargo carriers against a 2017 Commission decision. In its 2017 decision, the Commission imposed a total fine of nearly €800 million on 11 air cargo carriers for operating a price-fixing cartel in the airfreight services market.
In its judgments, the General Court largely confirmed the Commission's assessment and decision as well as its jurisdiction to prosecute international cartels.
The Commission also takes note of the General Court’s decision to reduce the amount of the fine imposed on Japan Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, SAS and LAN. Overall, the fine was decreased by about €45 million.
See also:

• Curia's press release (in pdf format)
• Full text of judgments T-323/17, T-324/17, T-325/17, T-326/17, T-334/17, T-337/17, T-338/17, T-340/17, T-341/17, T-342/17, T-343/17, T-344/17 and T-350/17

The Commission takes note of the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissing GVN’s and Hermann Albers’ appeals against two 2020 judgments of the General Court. In its judgments, the General Court dismissed the applicants’ actions for annulment against a 2018 Commission State aid decision. In its decision, the Commission found that compensation payments granted to public transport undertakings for discounts offered to students and trainees under a national legislative amendment (i.e. Section 7a Niedersächsisches Nahverkehrsgesetz) did not constitute State aid.
In its judgment, the Court of Justice confirmed that the legislative amendment, laying down rules on the financial transfers from the Land to the competent local authorities in relation to the transport of students and trainees with a season ticket, did not qualify as State aid. In particular, the Court of Justice upheld the General Court’s finding that the measure did not amount to a transfer of state resources to an undertaking but merely to a financial transfer between different levels of the State administration.
See also the Court's judgment in GVN v Commission (C-666/20 P).

The Commission takes note of the preliminary rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In its judgments, the Court clarified the scope of protection afforded by the prohibition against double jeopardy laid down in Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (i.e. ne bis in idem principle) in the area of competition law.
See also:

• Bpost judgment.
• Curia's press release (in pdf format).

The Commission takes note of today’s judgments of the General Court dismissing UPS’s and ASL’s claims for damages against the Commission.
UPS’ and ASL’s claims stem from a 2013 Commission decision prohibiting the acquisition of TNT Express by UPS, which was annulled by the General Court in 2017 on the ground of a procedural irregularity. Those findings were subsequently upheld by the Court of Justice in 2019.
See also Curia's joint press release (in PDF) for cases T-834/17 and T-540/18.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court. In its judgment, the Court dismissed Scania’s appeal against a 2017 Commission decision imposing a fine of €880 million on Scania for participating in a cartel in the trucks sector.
In its judgment, the General Court fully upheld the Commission assessment and decision.
See also Curia's press release (in pdf)

Today, the General Court confirmed the Commission's June 2017 decision that Google abused its market dominance in general search by treating its own comparison shopping service more favourably than competing comparison shopping services. Google was displaying its own service prominently at or near the top of the first search results page, irrespective of how good or relevant it was, while rival services were demoted to page four or lower, where they were not even seen. Today's judgment delivers the clear message that Google's conduct was unlawful and it provides the necessary legal clarity for the market. Comparison shopping delivers an important service to consumers, at a time when e-commerce has become more and more important for retailers and consumers. As digital services have become omnipresent in our society nowadays, consumers should be able to rely on them in order to make informed and unbiased choices. The Commission will continue to use all tools at its disposal to address the role of big digital platforms on which businesses and users depend to, respectively, access end users and access digital services. Antitrust enforcement goes hand in hand with the EU's legislative action to address specific issues going beyond competition law. In this respect, the Commission's proposal for a Regulation on Digital Markets Act to ensure fairness and contestability is currently discussed by the European Parliament and the Council.
See also Curia's press release.

The Commission takes note of the judgments of the General Court dismissing all five actions for annulment against a 2018 Commission decision imposing a total fine of €254 million on nine producers of capacitors for participating in a cartel.
In its judgments, the General Court fully upheld the Commission’s assessment and decision.
See also Curia's press release.

The Commission takes note of the Court's judgment which fully upholds the General Court's judgment of 9 April 2019 in relation to the Qualcomm predation case.

The judgment confirms that the request for information that the Commission sent on 31 March 2017 in the context of the Commission investigation into Qualcomm's abuse of dominance in 3G baseband chipsets was lawful.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the Court of Justice (CJEU) dismissing on the appeal of Goldman Sachs against the judgment of the General Court of 12 July 2018 that upheld the Commission Decision relating to the Power Cables cartel. The CJEU upheld in full the judgment of the General Court.

The Commission will carefully examine the judgment.

The European Commission welcomes an agreement to end all exclusivity obligations concerning audiobook supply and distribution between Amazon's subsidiary Audible and Apple. This step is likely to improve competition in downloadable audiobook distribution in Europe.

The General Court ruled on Tompla/Printeos' action for annulment of the fine the Commission had imposed on the company for its participation in a cartel in the market for envelopes. The Court annulled Tompla/Printeos' fine.
Commission's envelope cartel decision