Publications / McDermott Newsletters / Brussels Brief - November 23, 2007

Brussels Brief - November 23, 2007

November 23, 2007

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Competition:  Commission Fines Members of Professional Tapes Cartel

Yannis Virvilis

The European Commission has imposed fines amounting to approximately EUR 75 million on Sony, Fuji and Maxell for participating in cartel activities in the professional videotape market.  The Commission itself initiated the investigation that commenced with dawn raids on the companies’ premises.  While Fuji and Maxell were granted a reduction of 40 and 20 per cent respectively for their cooperation with the Commission, Sony’s fine was increased by 30 per cent for obstructing the investigation.  This is the first cartel decision where the new Guidelines on the calculation of fines, adopted in 2006, have been applied.

 

Intellectual Property:  Parliament Backs Commission in Ending Design Protection for Spare Car Parts

Patricia Armesto

On 20 November, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee backed unanimously a European Commission proposal to end design protection for spare car parts and other machinery components.  Members of the Committee amended the proposed new directive to allow EU Member States a five year transition period before implementing full liberalisation.  If adopted, the directive will allow suppliers to produce motor vehicle components that are identical to the original parts, without infringing design protection.  This aims to reduce prices in the repair market, where the Commission considers competition to be insufficient.  Most EU Member States have a design protection regime for spare car parts.

 

Agriculture:  Health Check to Streamline Common Agricultural Policy

Benoît Keane

The European Commission has announced that it is to carry out a “health check” into the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).  This will consist of consulting the agricultural sector and community at large on three central questions: (i) how to make the direct aid system more simple and effective; (ii) how to make the market support instruments more relevant to a significantly enlarged European Union; and (iii) how to confront new challenges such as fighting climate change, managing water more efficiently and preserving biodiversity.  In spring 2008, the Commission is expected to announce legislative proposals that it hopes will be adopted by agriculture ministers by the end of 2008. 

 

State Aid:  Commission Requires Italy to Recover EUR 80 Million Operating Aid

Chen Dingsheng

The European Commission has concluded that operating aid worth around EUR 80 million granted by Italy in the form of a preferential electricity tariff is incompatible with the Single Market and must be recovered from the beneficiaries.  The aid, which was established in 1962 to compensate for the expropriation of a hydroelectric power plant, was granted to the manufacturing plants of ThyssenKrupp (steel), Cementir (cement) and Terni Nuova Industrie Chimiche (chemicals).  Compensation granted by a State to a company in the context of expropriation does not normally constitute State aid.  However, the Commission’s assessment shows that further extension of the aid until 2010 cannot be considered compensatory.  The Commission therefore concluded that the aid was actually operating aid.

 

Fisheries:  Commission Proposal on Black Sea Fishing

Chen Dingsheng

For the first time since the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, the European Commission is proposing to regulate fishing in the Black Sea in order to allow stocks to recover.  The Commission proposes a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for 2008 of 90 tonnes for turbot and 15,000 tonnes for sprat, the two main commercial stocks targeted by the Bulgarian and Romanian fleets.  The TAC for sprat is unallocated, while the TAC for turbot would be divided equally between the two countries.  The proposal also sets out technical measures for turbot fishing, specifically a minimum mesh size of 200 mm and a minimum landed size of 450 mm.  During a transitional period the minimum mesh size allowable is 180 mm to enable the Bulgarian fleet to adapt.

 

Competition:  French Competition Authority Sends SO to Temporary Employment Agencies

Kate DaSilva

Two international providers of temporary staff have received a Statement of Objections (SO) from the French antitrust authorities.  The SO is part of an investigation into alleged collusion and agreements on pricing terms within the temporary staffing market.  The SO alleges “exchanges of commercially sensitive information with competitors from 2003 to 2004 and a concerted practice in connection with one tender offer in France”.  The investigation arose from a complaint made to the European Commission in 2003.  The case was subsequently passed to France's competition authority, the DGCCRF, for further handling.

 

Regional Policy:  EU Considers Setting Up European Micro-Credit Fund

Elena Kostadinova

The European Commission has presented its initiative to improve the legal and institutional environment for “micro-credit” in the European Union.  Loans under EUR 25,000 qualify as micro-credit.  The initiative aims to make credit more easily available to small companies and unemployed or inactive people seeking to set up a business.  Part of the initiative would be the creation of a fund, managed by the European Investment Fund, which would provide expertise and financial support to non-bank micro-finance institutions.  The new fund would receive EUR 10 to15 million from the European Regional Development Fund to finance the loan activities of these institutions.

 

NEXT WEEK’S EVENTS

Monday 26 November – Friday 30 November 2007

 

COUNCIL MEETINGS

Agriculture and Fisheries Council (26 – 27 November 2007)

 

COURT OF JUSTICE

Judgments

Approximation of laws

C-67/07 Commission v France

 

Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

C-435/06 C

C-68/07 Sundelind Lopez

C-34/07 Commission v Luxembourg

 

Company law

C-119/06 Commission v Italy

 

Freedom to provide services

C-393/05 Commission v Austria

C-404/05 Commission v Germany

 

Regional policy

C-417/06 P Italy v Commission

 

State aid

C-176/06 P Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall and Others v Commission

 

Opinions

Agriculture

C-420/06 Jager

C-361/06 Feinchemie Schwebda and Bayer CropScience

 

Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

C-14/07 Weiss und Partner

 

Company law

Joined Cases C-147/06, C-148/06 SECAP

 

Environment and consumers

C-2/07 Abraham and Others

 

Intellectual property

C-16/06 P Éditions Albert René v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market

 

Law governing the institutions

Joined Cases C-39/05 P, C-52/05 P Sweden v Council and Others

 

Social policy

C-506/06 Mayr

 

Social security for migrant workers

C-352/06 Bosmann

 

State aid

C-390/06 Nuova Agricast

Joined Cases C-75/05 P, C-80/05 P Germany v Commission

 

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Judgments

Intellectual property

T-434/05 Gateway v OHMI - Fujitsu Siemens Computers (ACTIVY Media Gateway)

 

Law governing the institutions

Joined Cases T-3/00, T-337/04 Pitsiorlas v Council and BCE

 

McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will and Emery