Competition Weekly e-news

The European Commission has launched today a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on the draft revised Merger Implementing Regulation and the Notice on Simplified Procedure.

The European Commission has informed Apple of its preliminary view that it abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices. By limiting access to a standard technology used for contactless payments with mobile devices in stores (‘Near-Field Communication (NFC)' or ‘tap and go'), Apple restricts competition in the mobile wallets market on iOS.
See also Margrethe Vestager's remarks.

The European Commission has approved a German umbrella scheme with a budget of around €11 billion to support companies across sectors in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis Framework, adopted by the Commission on 23 March 2022, based on Article 107(3)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU'), recognising that the EU economy is experiencing a serious disturbance.

The Commission takes note of the judgment of the General Court dismissing Wizz Air’s action for annulment against a 2020 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission approved rescue aid of approximately €36.7 million granted by Romania to the airline TAROM.
In its judgment, the General Court fully upheld the Commission’s assessment and decision. In particular, it confirmed that the measure aimed at preventing the social hardship that a disruption of TAROM’s services might cause for the connectivity of regions in Romania and thus was in line with EU State aid rules and compatible with the internal market.
Furthermore, the General Court confirmed the expiry of a period of at least 10 years from the granting of earlier restructuring aid to the airline, as provided in the Commission's Guidelines on rescue and restructuring aid (the so-called “one time, last time” principle). In particular, it clarified that the period during which the restructuring measures are implemented is in principle different from the period during which the restructuring aid itself is implemented.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format).

Speech of Executive Vice-President Vestager,
ICN Annual Conference, Berlin,
5 May 2022.
[...]"Because ultimately, competition policy is about more than just ‘prices', ‘barriers to entry' or ‘market share'. It is about prosperity. It is about openness and it is about freedom." [...]