Competition Weekly e-news

The Commission has fined the Spanish company Abengoa S.A. and its subsidiary Abengoa Bionenergía S.A. (together ‘Abengoa') € 20 million for participating in a cartel concerning the wholesale price formation mechanism in the European ethanol market. Abengoa admitted its involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case.

The European Commission is inviting citizens, businesses, social partners, academia, government bodies and all interested parties to comment on the draft Guidelines on the application of EU competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed people providing services. The draft Guidelines are part of a package also including a proposal for a Directive on improving working conditions in platform work and a Communication on harnessing the full benefits of digitalisation for the future of work.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €3 billion Spanish scheme to support research, development and innovation (RD&I), as well as environmental protection and energy efficiency measures of companies in the value chain for electric and connected vehicles. The measure will help Spain to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable and connected mobility, without unduly distorting competition. The scheme will be partly funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF'), following the Commission's positive assessment of the Spanish Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a Croatian aid scheme to support electricity production from renewable sources. The measure will help Croatia reach its renewable energy targets, including those set in its Recovery and Resilience plan, and contribute to the European objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, without unduly distorting competition in the Single market.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €133 million (SEK 1,370 million) Swedish scheme to support the rail freight sector and the rail passenger sector in the context of the coronavirus outbreak

The European Commission has adopted revised Guidelines on State aid to promote risk finance investments (the 'Risk Finance Guidelines'). The revised Guidelines will apply from 1 January 2022. They clarify and simplify the rules under which Member States can support and facilitate access to finance by European start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises ('SMEs') and companies with a medium capitalization ('mid-caps'), while ensuring a level playing field in the Single Market.

The European Commission has adopted a revised Communication on Short-term export credit insurance (‘STEC Communication'). The STEC Communication lays down rules to (i) ensure that State support to export credits does not distort competition among private and public (or publicly supported) export credit insurers, and (ii) create a level playing field among exporters in different Member States. The revised STEC Communication will apply from 1 January 2022.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust of the US Department of Justice Jonathan Kanter have launched the EU-US Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue in Washington DC.

The European Commission, the US Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice have issued a joint statement.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court. In its judgment, the General Court dismissed Sun West’s appeal against a 2020 Commission’s decision to reject the company’s complaint.
In its judgment, the General Court confirmed that formal complaints should by definition aim at raising doubts as regards the compatibility of State aid measures with the internal market. In addition, the General Court confirmed that only Member States have the right and the obligation to notify State aid measures to the Commission. Therefore, the Commission is not obliged to examine the substance of a complaint whereby an applicant seeks to demonstrate the compatibility of State aid measures.
The Commission shall however examine any information brought to its attention as “general market information” without any obligation to start an investigation ex officio.

Speech by EVP Margrethe Vestager,
American Chamber of Commerce's Transatlantic Business Works Summit, Washington DC
9 December 2021
[...] " I am pleased to say that the first meeting of the Trade and Technology Council was a genuine success. We have also just launched a joint dialogue for competition policy, to help us deal with common challenges in tech and digital markets." [...]

DG Competition will hold a conference for Young Experts on 3 February 2022. “Taking Competition Policy into the Future” will give a platform to the competition experts and scholars of tomorrow.

This special issue of our Competition Policy Brief series contains articles written by the four winners and shorter papers from shortlisted and undergraduate entrants. The thought-provoking collection gives a platform to the views and suggestions of tomorrow's competition scholars and experts;