3 février 2020

Unfair terms between professionals: Payment terms
A moderate reduction in the outstanding amount of credit granted to a distributor, which is justified by its negative results and the absence of guarantees does not constitute a significant imbalance.
CA Paris, 22 January 2020, LawLex20200000103JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Refusal to sell
The failure to supply a customer when justified by the bad harvest linked to a random natural phenomenon does not constitute a termination of the established commercial relationship.
CA Paris, 22 January 2020, LawLex20200000114JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Absence of force majeur
Economic difficulties dating back to 2011 do not constitute an unforeseeable force majeure event such as to exempt a client from giving notice of termination in 2015.
CA Paris, 24 January 2020, LawLex20200000102JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Length of notice
A client, who, after fourteen years of relations, terminates the contract with a service provider on the grounds that he is selling the business without explaining what steps have been taken for the purchaser to take over the contract, must give the service provider more than two months’ notice.
CA Paris, 15 January 2020, LawLex2020000062JBJ

Anticompetitive agreements: Restriction by object
In the absence of any previous experience acquired in matters relating to interbank commissions, the finding of a restriction by object cannot be based on a general principle of passing on of any element of cost on final prices by any economic operator.
Court of Cassation, commercial chamber, 29 January 2020, LawLex20200000130JBJ

Anticompetitive agreements: Restriction by object
The quest to maintain financial equilibria between banks only constitutes a restriction by object if it is positively demonstrated that it leads to a stabilization of the market structure.
Court of Cassation, commercial chamber, 29 January 2020, LawLex20200000130JBJ

Abuse of dominant position: Essential infrastructures
Access to an essential infrastructure is not regarded as strictly necessary or essential if there are products or services constituting alternative solutions, even if they are less advantageous (whether commercially or in terms of pricing), insofar as the existence of economic barriers is understood restrictively since the profitability of the service envisaged must be evaluated with regard to output on a scale which is comparable to that of the undertaking controlling the existing product or service.
Competition Authority, 23 January 2020, LawLex20200000107JBJ

Abuse of dominant position: Essential infrastructures
The deployment of fiber optic networks by alternative operators attests to the possibility of replicating Orange’s FTTH network in conditions which are clearly not unreasonable, and therefore the infrastructure cannot be described as essential.
Competition Authority, 23 January 2020, LawLex20200000107JBJ