Competition Bulletin November 2022
Table of Contents
| 01 | Representative CNMC merger decisions, February-November 2022. |
| 02 | Legislative Activity / Reform of the Unfair Competition Act. |
| 03 | CNMC activity / National postal service. The CNMC fines Correos $32.6 million for the use of a selective discount system for large customers (Decision of 18 February 2022, CORREOS 3, file S/0041/19). |
| 04 | CNMC activity / Scrap purchase market. The CNMC fines three steel companies $24 million for anti-competitive exchanges of information in the market for scrap iron (Decision of 4 March 2022, CHATARRA Y ACERO, file S/0012/19). |
| 05 | CNMC activity / Bid-rigging. The CNMC fines six of Spain’s largest construction companies for altering the competitive process of infraestructure tenders over a period of 25 years (Decision of 5 July 2022, OBRA CIVIL 2, file S/0021/20). |
| 06 | CNMC activity / Football. The CNMC shelves an investigation against the Royal Spanish Football Federation clearing it of a prior formal indictment for abuse of dominant position (Decision of 1 June 2022, Second and Third Division Football, file S/0042/19). |
| 07 | CNMC activity / Excessive pricing of orphan drugs. The CNMC fines Leadiant €10.25 million for excessive pricing of its drug for the treatment of cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (Decision of 14 November 2022, CDCA Leadiant, file S/0028/10). |
| 08 | CNMC activity / generic entry delaying tactics. The CNMC fines Merck Sharp €39 million for abuse of dominant position. |
| 09 | CNMC activity / Recycling market. The CNMC formally initiates antitrust proceedings against Ecoembalajes España, S.A. for possible abuse of dominant position (5 October 2022). |
| 10 | CNMC activity / Hotels and online travel agencies. The CNMC initiates antitrust proceeding against Booking.com B.V. for possible abuse of dominant position (17 October 2022). |
| 11 | Commercial Court activity / Antitrust litigation. The Commercial Court nº 3 of Madrid finds that the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has abused its dominant position and condemns to compensate for damages (Judgement of the Commercial Court nº 3 of Madrid of 10 January 2022, appeal number 2087/2019). |
| 12 | Commercial Court activity / World Padel Tour. The Commercial Court nº 15 of Madrid rejects the request for interim measures requested by World Padel Tour to stop the Premier Padel circuit. |
| 13 | High Court activity / Security companies. The High Court overturns €46 million fines on Prosegur and Loomis (Judgement of the High Court of 20 July 2022, Prosegur compañía de seguridad, S.A., v. CNMC, appeal number 3109/2022). |
| 14 | High Court activity / UTEs. The High Court upholds the appeal of JEZ Sistemas Ferroviarios, S.L. and quashes the CNMC cartel Decision in connection with high speed train infraestructure (Judgement of the High Court of 27 December 2021, appeal number 432/2016). |
| 15 | Judicial activity / Time limits of administrative investigations. The High Court has annulled an antitrust decision due to the expiration of the administrative time limits for antitrust decisions (Judgement of the High Court of 27 July 2022, appeal number 92/2016). |
| 16 | Judicial activity / Prohibition to contract with the Public Administration. The Superior Court of Justice of Cataluña establishes that a Competition Authority can decide on the scope of the prohibition to deal with Public Administrations. |
| 17 | EU Commission activity / Hungary breached the EUMR. The EC fines that Hungary breached Article 21 EUMR by vetoing an acquisition of EU dimension on the basis of the national foreign direct investment screening regime (21 February 2022). |
| 18 | EU Commission activity / Internet of things. The European Commission publishes the report of the sector inquiry into Internet of things (20 January 2022). |
| 19 | European Commission activity / Draft Notice on Market Definition (October 2022). |
| 20 | CJEU activity / Intel. The General Courts annuls in part the EC’s fine against Intel (Judgement of the General Court of 26 January 2022, Intel Corporation v. European Commission, case T-286/09). |
| 21 | CJEU activity / Non bis in idem principle. The Court of Justice specifies the protection against double jeopardy provided by EU law (Judgement of the Court of Justice of 22 March 2022, in cases Bpost, C-117/20 and Nordzucker and others, case C-151/20). |
| 22 | CJEU activity / Damages Directive. The CJEU clarifies the temporal scope of the Damages Directive (Judgement of the Court of Justice of 22 June 2022, Volvo and DAF Trucks, case C-267/20). |
| 23 | CJEU activity / Ilumina. The General Court rejects Ilumina’s appeal of the EC decision to void the Grail Ilumina Concentration (Judgement of the European Court of Justice of 13 July 2022, Ilumina, Inc. v. European Commission, case T-227/21). |
| 24 | Foreign Direct Investment Screening – Draft Regulation implementing the Foreign Direct Investment Act (December 2021). |
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