Legal Alerts/2 Nov 2015

Competition Review – November 2015

ANTITRUST

The European Court of Justice upheld the General Court’s ruling on the fact that a consultancy firm can be seen as a “facilitator” of a cartel, despite not being active in the affected markets. >>

The European Court of Justice gave its ruling on Post Danmark’s retroactive rebate scheme where it clarifies, among others, that rebate schemes which are based on volume and relate to individual orders are lawful under Article 102 TFEU. >>

MERGER CONTROL

The European Commission cleared the acquisition of electronic component supplier Altera by Intel. >>

STATE AID

The European Commission decided that selective tax advantages for Fiat in Luxembourg and Starbucks in the Netherlands were against EU state aid rules as the tax rulings issued by national tax authorities artificially lowered the tax burden of the companies, and the rulings did not reflect “economic reality”. >>

The Finnish government will abandon the Sweets Tax after the European Commission raised state aid concerns. >>

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

The European Court of Justice held that the term “economic operator” in Article 1(8) of Directive 2004/18 includes public authorities that may participate in public tendering procedures if they are authorised to offer certain services in return for remuneration on the market. >>

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Ilkka Aalto-Setälä

Partner

Helsinki

Partner

Helsinki