French Competition Law provides a comprehensive review of the French rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, commercial negotiation, abuses of a dominant position, procedure and merger control.

French Competition Law

Under Article L. 430-7(1) of the Commercial Code, the Minister of the Economy may preempt cases and issue rulings “on public interest grounds other than the preserving of competition”, in order, if appropriate, to compensate for any harm to the public interest. In practice, this means that the Minister may, on the grounds of public interest, not only authorize concentrations that have been prohibi …

Preemption by the Minister of the Economy

Under Article L. 430-7(1) of the Commercial Code, the Minister of the Economy may preempt cases and issue rulings “on public interest grounds other than the preserving of competition”, in order, if appropriate, to compensate for any harm to the public interest. In practice, this means that the Minister may, on the grounds of public interest, not only authorize concentrations that have been prohibited by the Competition Authority but also prohibit ones that have been authorized. The system in France is thus distinguished from the majority of European models such as Germany.

Those grounds include in particular “industrial development, competitiveness between undertakings with regard to international competition or the creation and preserving of jobs”.

Before entry into force of the LME law, the evaluation of the competitiveness of undertakings in the light of international competition was carried out at the same time as the assessment of the merger in respect of its contribution to economic progress. The competition authorities notably considered that a concentration was likely to increase the international competitiveness of the participating companies because it enabled them to retain a large enough production capacity to ensure prices remained competitive , as it reduced the cost of development abroad by rationalizing investments , or through integrating an undertaking within an international group . However, the international competitiveness factor seems to be appreciated with increasing severity with the authorities requiring that the link between the merger and international competitiveness be “direct and inevitable” . Consequently, in its opinion in Eurocom Carat for example, the Competition Authority held that it had not been established that Eurocom, which was at the forefront of the French advertising market and third on the advertising space market, could not ensure its international development without merging its network with Carat in France. This position was approved by the Minister .

Under earlier provisions, when called upon to rule on the preservation of jobs objective , the competition authorities emphasized, that the creation of jobs should not be at the expense of other undertakings, where the objective could be attained without the concentration .

Competition Commission opinion of 26 February 1981, LawLex200200002093JBJ.

Competition Commission opinion of 23 September 1982, LawLex200200006027JBJ.

Competition Commission opinion of 15 November 1979, LawLex200300002179JBJ.

Report for 1990, XLV, LawLex200200000038JBA.

Competition Council opinion No 90-A-10 of 10 July 1990, LawLex200200002037JBJ, and Order of 3 September 1990, LawLex200200002016JBJ.

Competition Council opinion No 89-A-05 of 21 February 1989, LawLex200200002078JBJ.

Competition Council opinion No 95-A-14 du 29 August 1995, LawLex200200002032JBJ. - It is necessary in order to assess the contribution to social progress to take into consideration the resulting job losses in the competing undertaking and not only the predictable changes in terms of jobs in the actual undertakings concerned: Ministerial Degree of 24 November 1999, LawLex200200002081JBJ.

French Competition Law

573. Preemption by the Minister of the Economy

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573. Preemption by the Minister of the Economy

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise