Brussels Brief - September 7, 2007
September 7, 2007
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Competition: Rambus Receives Statement of Objections In Commission’s First Patent Ambush Case
Bróna Heenan
On 30 July 2007, the European Commission issued a Statement of Objections (SO) to Rambus, one of the world's premier technology licensing companies that specialises in the invention and design of high-speed chip interfaces. The SO outlines the Commission’s view that Rambus had abused its dominant position by claiming unreasonable royalties for the use of certain patents for Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (DRAMs). DRAMs, which provide electronic memory in a wide range of electronic products, were standardised by an industry-wide standards body, the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC). The Commission’s allegation is that, during the process to agree an industry standard, Rambus engaged in intentionally deceptive conduct by not disclosing the existence of its DRAM patents. Once its patents were included in the standard, Rambus then claimed royalties from manufacturers producing products in accordance with the adopted standard. The US Federal Trade Commission has already held Rambus liable in the
Trade: Commission to End Anti-Dumping Duties on Energy Saving Lightbulbs in 2008
Elena Kostadinova
The European Commission has proposed to terminate next year the anti-dumping duties on energy-saving light bulbs imported from China. The measures, which have been in place since 2001, were due to expire in 2006. However, the EU industry requested an expiry review to determine whether there were grounds for prolonging the duties for another five years. The Commission has now completed the investigation and will propose termination of the measures next year on the grounds that it is not in the European Union’s interest to prolong the measures. The proposed prolongation of the anti-dumping tariff by only one year rather than the standard five is a novel application of EU anti-dumping rules. Member States now have one month to consider the proposal.
Telecommunications: Commission Adopts Proposal for Single Market for Mobile Satellite Services
Alana Tart
The European Commission has adopted a proposal to reform the existing international framework for satellite communications. Under current EU telecoms rules, each EU Member State has its own licensing system for industries that use satellite communication. This leads to diverging national approaches to selection and authorisation. The Commission proposes unifying these individual systems into a single market. The new proposal will establish a single selection procedure organised by the Commission in cooperation with the Member States. A harmonised set of selection criteria will be drawn up relating to geographic coverage, consumer and competitive benefits, the fulfilment of public policy objectives and spectrum efficiency. No European fee for operators is foreseen. The proposal has yet to be approved by the European Parliament and Council.
Mergers: Commission Clears Luvata-Eco Deal, Subject to Conditions
Yannis Virvilis
The European Commission has cleared the acquisition of Italian company, Eco, by the Finnish group, Luvata, subject to the divestment of one of Luvata’s plants. Eco is an Italian manufacturer of heat exchange products such as coils, while Luvata is active in metal fabrication, component manufacturing and related engineering and design services. The Commission’s investigation showed that the concentration would lead to competition problems in the coil market, due to the high market shares of the two companies and the structure of the market. Coils are systems which enable the transfer of heat from one fluid to another without mixing the two. They are used in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. The Commission decided to clear the deal following a commitment by Luvata to divest the plant where most of its coil production takes place.
Mergers: Commission to Appeal Schneider Electric Damages Judgment
Benoît Keane
The European Commission has decided to appeal the Judgment on Schneider Electric made by the European Court of First Instance (CFI). In its Judgment, the CFI found the Commission liable for damages in relation to a breach in the rights of defence of the merging parties. The Commission claims in its appeal that the breaches of the rights of defence did not constitute a “sufficiently serious breach” to give rise to a right to damages under Community law. The Commission has two months from the date of the Judgment in which to lodge its appeal before the European Court of Justice.
Competition: Commission Sends Statement of Objections Over Sodium Chlorate Cartel
Alana Tart
The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to a number of companies alleging their participation in a price-fixing cartel for sodium chlorate. Sodium chlorate is mainly used as a bleaching agent in the pulp and paper industry. The Commission suspects that cartel participants jointly fixed the market price of sodium chlorate. The Commission gave no details of the companies suspected of involvement in the cartel but some of those involved have announced that they received an SO. They include French chemical group
Air Transport: New Regulation Relaxes Rules on Liquid Transport into European Union
Emanuel De Duonni
On 7 August 2007, the European Commission adopted a new regulation that relaxes the rules preventing liquids bought at third country airports being carried onto EU aircraft by passengers transferring at EU airports. Currently, passengers arriving at EU airports with their liquid goods are required to leave behind anything exceeding the hand luggage limit, as there is no way of ensuring that it has been submitted to satisfactory security standards. The regulation will allow the goods to be transported onto EU aircraft once the Commission has verified that equivalent security standards are applied in the originating country. This development constitutes a relaxation in the regulation adopted in October 2006 in the wake of attempted terrorist attacks in the
Telecommunications: Commission to Propose European Telecoms Regulator
Chen Dingsheng
The European Commission has put forward a proposal to establish a European Telecoms Regulator. This proposal particularly addresses a lack of consistency in the way that common rules are applied in the European Union, making it difficult to provide electronic communication services under the same conditions throughout the 27 Member States. According to the proposal, the new authority would replace the European Regulators' Group (ERG) and would serve mainly to improve the consistency of regulation in the European Union, as well as reinforcing cooperation between
Telecommunications: New Roaming Charges for Europe
Emanuel De Duonni
In response to the European Commission’s publication of its “name and shame” roaming charges website on 2 August 2007, all Member State mobile phone operators have now presented their Eurotariffs. These can be viewed on the Commission’s website. At present, there is at least one mobile operator offering tariffs below the regulatory ceiling set by the Commission in 23 of the Member States. The new EU Roaming Regulation that came into force on 30 June 2007 fixes the maximum charge per minute at EUR 0.49 for outgoing and EUR 0.24 for incoming calls. Next month, the Commission will assess the impact of the Regulation so far, in view of a comprehensive evaluation that will be submitted to the European Parliament and European Council before 30 December 2008.
NEXT WEEK’S EVENTS
Monday 10 September – Friday 14 September 2007
COUNCIL MEETINGS
No Council meetings scheduled for next week.
COURT OF JUSTICE
Judgments
Approximation of laws
C-17/06 Céline
Common Customs Tariff
C-400/06 Codirex expeditie
Customs union
C-443/05 P Common Market Fertilizers v Commission
Environment and consumers
Joined Cases C-439/05 P, C-454/05 P Land Oberösterreich v Commission
External relations
C-431/05 Merck Genéricos Produtos Farmacêuticos
Freedom of establishment
C-260/04 Commission v
Freedom of movement for persons
C-307/05
Freedom to provide services
C-318/05 Commission v
C-76/05 Schwarz and Gootjes-Schwarz
Intellectual property
C-234/06 P Ponte Finanziaria v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and F.M.G. Textiles (formerly Marine Enterprise Projects)
Social policy
C-287/05 Hendrix
C-458/05 Jouini and Others
C-381/06 Commission v
Opinions
Agriculture
Joined Cases C-37/06, C-58/06 Viamex Agrar
Approximation of laws
C-328/06 Nieto Nuño
ECSC
C-408/04 P Commission v
C-263/06 Carboni e derivati
Freedom to provide services
C-319/06 Commission v
Free movement of capital
C-101/05 A
C-256/06 Jäger
Free movement of goods
C-201/06 Commission v
C-244/06 Dynamic Medien
Industrial Policy
C-380/05 Centro Europa 7
Taxation
C-401/06 Commission v
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
Judgments
Agriculture
T-243/05 Greece v Commission
T-230/04 Finland v Commission
Competition
T-36/05 Coats Holdings and Coats v Commission
T-60/05 Ufex and Others v Commission
T-30/05 Prym and Prym Consumer v Commission
Intellectual property
T-358/04 Neumann v OHMI
T-363/04 Koipe v OHMI - Aceites del Sur (La Española)
T-304/05 Cain Cellars v OHMI
T-141/06 Glaverbel v OHMI
T-164/06 ColArt v
T-291/03 Consorzio per la tutela
Law governing the institutions
T-259/03 Nikolaou v Commission
T-36/04 API v Commission
Research, information, education, statistics
T-449/04 Commission v TRENDS
T-448/04 Commission v TRENDS
State aid
Joined Cases T-239/04, T-323/04 Italy v Commission
T-348/03 Koninklijke Friesland Foods v Commission
T-25/04 González y Díez v Commission
T-68/03 Olympiaki Aeroporia Ypiresies v Commission
T-196/02 MTU Friedrichshafen v Commission
