The 5 news of the week – October 14, 2024

SUDDEN TERMINATION OF ESTABLISHED COMMERCIAL RELATIONS
The structural variability of the volume of services in question implies a more flexible assessment of the significant fall in orders likely to reflect a partial sudden termination and requires the taking into account of a sufficiently wide temporal perimeter to be representative.
CA Paris, 2 October 2024, No 21/22032

OBSTRUCTION
Acts of obstruction which are particularly damaging to the continuation of an investigation, in that they involved the presence of the director of the company himself, are of a particularly serious nature and justify the imposition of a dissuasive fine of EUR 900,000.
Competition Authority, 24 September 2024, No 24-D-08

FINE
The Commission infringes the principle of equal treatment when it does not grant the same reduction of the amount of the fine to two undertakings for not having participated in one part of the infringement, even though this circumstance has the same effects on competition.
CJEU Case C-31/23 P Ferriere Nord SpA, Judgment of 4 October 2024, not available in English

MERGERS
A merger that brings together two major vertically-integrated competitors who are the only ones to have all the technical capabilities needed to meet the demand of the customers concerned, thereby causing the elimination of an important competitive force, while leading to a significant impediment to effective competition, with regard to the production and supply of tinplate (“TP”) and rolled steel for packaging in the European Economic Area, in particular due to uncoordinated horizontal effects resulting from the elimination of a strong competitive constraint which would leave customers facing a reduction in the number of suppliers, as well as higher prices, must be declared incompatible with the internal market.
CJEU Case C-581/22 P thyssenkrupp AG, Judgment of 4 October 2024, LawLex202400007566JBJ

EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION
An exclusive distributor bringing an action in competition against another network member must demonstrate that the latter has made active sales in its territory as passive sales cannot be prohibited under the Vertical Restraints Regulation.
CA Paris, 2 October 2024, No 23/09584