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

Unlike Title II of the Commercial Code on anticompetitive practices , Title III, on economic concentration does not contain any provision concerning disputes relative to the application of Articles L. 430-1 et seq. However, this does not mean that civil sanctions are not available for faults committed during merger operations: the Court of Cassation  has recently ruled that a third party harmed by …

Action for compensation

Unlike Title II of the Commercial Code on anticompetitive practices , Title III, on economic concentration does not contain any provision concerning disputes relative to the application of Articles L. 430-1 et seq. However, this does not mean that civil sanctions are not available for faults committed during merger operations: the Court of Cassation  has recently ruled that a third party harmed by the non-compliance of commitments to which a merger clearance is subject, could claim damages in the civil courts. It has thus for the first time enshrined a right to compensation for victims of wrongful acts carried out in the context of a concentration.

The Court of Cassation has held that non-compliance with commitments given in a merger procedure, which are binding and can be enforced by the undertakings they seek to protect, constitutes a civil tort . In addition, even if the decisions of the Competition Authority relating to compliance with the commitments contained in a decision clearing a merger are not binding on the ordinary civil courts, they can be produced in court as evidence in support of civil liability claims based on non-compliance with those commitments.

Commercial Code, Article L. 420-7 "Without prejudice to Articles L. 420-6, L. 462-8, L. 463-1 to L. 463-4, L. 463-6, L. 463-7 and L. 464-1 to L. 464-8, disputes relating to application of the rules laid down in Articles L. 420-1 to L. 420-5 and Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty [now 101 and 102 of the TFEU Treaty], and those in which the said provisions are invoked, are referred, as applicable, and without prejudice to the rules relating to division of jurisdiction between the different types of court, to the civil or commercial courts, whose province and scope of jurisdiction are determined in a Conseil d'État decree. The said decree also determines the province and scope of jurisdiction of the court(s) of appeal which are competent to take cognizance of decisions pronounced by those jurisdictions".

Cass. com., 31 January 2018, LawLex201800000239JBJ: this judgment is in line with the trend to give more consideration to competitive harm, to which the adoption of the directive on the rules governing actions for damages under national law and its transposition into domestic law has largely contributed.

Cass. com., 31 January 2018, LawLex201800000239JBJ, deeming that the significant and continuous degradation to the attractiveness of the program offers proposed to the applicant and its subsidiaries, in violation of acquiring group's commitment to extend existing contracts between the target and its broadcasters in conditions at least as favorable as those in force on the day of the authorization of the concentration, characterizes a performance in bad faith of the memorandum of understanding in question and its amendments, and gives rise to a right to compensation.

French Competition Law

594. Action for compensation

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

594. Action for compensation

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

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise