Consumer protection on the Internet has been improved following the entry into force of Ordinance n°2011-1012 of August 24, 2011 on electronic communications adopted further to the Law n°2011-302 of March 22, 2011 transposing two EC Directives on electronic communications. The main effect of the Ordinance is to strengthen the protection of consumers who use […]
In its ruling dated September 15, 2011, the General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Lucite International Ltd and its subsidiary Lucite International UK Ltd and refused to consider certain circumstances as attenuating[1]. These companies challenged the amount of the fine that had been imposed on them by the European Commission […]
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 […]
Strategic Lawyering