Competition weekly news summary
  Friday, March 27, 2009

Conferences and Speeches

  • European Models for Economic Recovery, Address at Atlantic Council, Washington, Neelie Kroes
    26 March 2009
    "I understand why politicians are tempted by protectionism – it feels like a quick-fix to the human pain around us. But telling your citizens to “buy American” or “buy Spanish” never works. Protectionism is addictive. Don’t ever listen to those who propose temporary measures. History tells us that the only temporary part is the commitment to repeal it. It is like a pregnancy: you think it's about nine months but there are decades of consequences."

Court

  • Case C-113/07 Selex Sistemi Integrati v Commission and Eurocontrol
    26 March 2009
    The Court of Justice ruled on an appeal by Selex to annul a CFI judgment of 12 December 2006 in case T-155/04. The CFI had upheld the Commission's decision of 12 February 2004 rejecting Selex' complaint against alleged anticompetitive behaviour of Eurocontrol. The Court of Justice ruled that the CFI had erred in law when finding that certain activities of Eurocontral targetted by the complaint constituted "economic activities" in the meaning of Article 82 EC Treaty. However, the Cour held that this error had not affected the CFI judgment and therefore had had no bearing on the outcome. The Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the Commission's decision.

Mergers

  • Commission approves proposed acquisition of Philips branded PC monitors and electronic displays business by TPV
    26 March 2009
    The transaction would lead to several vertical and horizontal relationships. However, the Commission found that the horizontal overlap is very limited and that, under all possible alternative market definitions, the merged entity would continue to face several strong, effective competitors. With regard to the vertical relationships, the Commission found that the merged entity would neither have the ability nor the incentive to restrict supplies or to close off customers, mainly because of the presence of several competitors and Philips HoldCo's limited market presence at the downstream level. (C-5)

Antitrust

State Aid