Under French law, the Public Prosecutor and the Minister of Economy can initiate legal proceedings to request the judge to order the cessation of an abusive commercial practice, the nullity of the relevant unlawful clauses and contracts, the reimbursement of the undue payments and a civil fine on the infringing economic player(s)[1]. By remand decision […]
In a decision dated June 16, 2011, the General Court of the European Union (“General Court”) annulled the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision sentencing a cartel in the bleaching chemicals market, on the basis of its duty to state reasons when rejecting the elements of proof produced by the parent company to rebut the presumption of […]
On May 16, 2011, the Autorité de la concurrence(French Competition Authority or hereinafter the “FCA”) published a notice on the method according to which it sets financial penalties in cases of cartels and abuses of dominant position[1] (the “Notice”). Article L.464-2 of the French Commercial Code already specified the legal criteria according to which financial […]
In his non binding opinion issued on March 3, 2011, the Advocate General of Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) seems to follow the reasoning of the Conseil de la Concurrence (the French Competition Council, now known as Autorité de la Concurrence, i.e. Competition Authority) that had considered, in Decision n°08-D-25 rendered on […]
In three decisions dated February 8, 2011, the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) further clarified and complemented the conditions in which a commercial agent is entitled to severance indemnities at the end of the agency relationship. On the whole, the case law of the Cour de Cassation remains quite strict […]
By judgment dated March 3rd, 2011[1], the General Court of the European Union (“General Court”) ruled on the determination of the respective contributions to be paid by companies held jointly and severally liable by the European Commission for the payment of an antitrust fine imposed on them for their participation in a cartel on the […]
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