General Court annuls HSBC Euribor cartel fine

General Court annuls HSBC Euribor cartel fine

The General Court has annulled the European Commission’s fine of EUR33.6 million imposed on HSBC for its participation in the euro interest rate derivatives cartel.

Although the Court has largely upheld the Commission’s substantive finding that HSBC participated in a single and continuous infringement in breach of Article 101(1) TFEU, it found that the Commission had not properly established that two discussions between the bank’s traders and their counterparts restricted competition by object.

The General Court further found that the Commission had given inadequate reasons for its approach to determining the value of sales for the purposes of calculating the fine.

It is quite unusual for the Court to annul a cartel fine in its entirety and even more interesting in a case where the findings on liability were largely upheld.  This emphasises the importance of the Commission substantiating and providing adequate reasons for its approach to calculation of the fine.

JP Morgan has a pending appeal against the same Euribor decision.

Case T‑105/17, HSBC Holdings plc, HSBC Bank plc and HSBC France v European Commission, ECLI:EU:T:2019:675

Ofcom settles parcel delivery case

Ofcom settles parcel delivery case

Ofcom has announced that Royal Mail and a reseller of its parcel delivery services have admitted their participation in an unlawful customer allocation agreement.

In September 2018 Ofcom issued a statement of objections alleging that Royal Mail and SalesGroup (trading as Desptach Bay) a reseller of its business parcel delivery services have breached the chapter I prohibition and Article 101 TFEU.

In May 2018 Royal Mail reported the arrangement to the Competition and Markets Authority who transferred the case to Ofcom as concurrent competition regulator for the postal sector. 

Ofcom states that the arrangements concerned at least 90 customers between 2013 and 2018 where the companies monitored and operated a customer sharing arrangement affecting both indirect and direct customers. Ofcom found that there was regular email correspondence between the parties which typically led to one of them withdrawing a lower price that they had offered to a customer.

The SaleGroup also shared its customer list with Royal Mail’s ParcelForce.

Royal Mail received immunity from fines under the CMA’s leniency policy.  SalesGroup was fined £40,000 which Ofcom regards as significant in view of the company’s small size.

Government closes enforcement gap in pre-Brexit merger and antitrust cases

Government closes enforcement gap in pre-Brexit merger and antitrust cases





On 10 September the government published the Competition (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) (No 2) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/1245), together with an explanatory memorandum.



The Regulations address a no-deal scenario and UK-related commitments made to the European Commission under EU merger control and antitrust. The Regulations ensure commitments made prior to exit day relating to the supply or acquisition of goods or services in the UK are preserved as retained EU law.  The Regulations grant UK competition authorities the power to monitor and enforce the commitments made under these decisions. 



The Regulations specify commitments made under 31 merger clearances and 12 EU antitrust cases going back to 2012.  These include historic multi-jurisdictional transactions such as Universal Music Group/EMI Music, Glencore/Xstrata, Takeda/Shire, and Microsoft/LinkedIn.  It was “previously thought” the European Commission would continue to monitor and enforce UK-related merger and antitrust commitments that were given pre-Brexit.



The Regulations are part of approximately 540 statutory instruments made in anticipation of Brexit since July 2018.

Vestager re-appointed as EU Competition Commissioner

Vestager re-appointed as EU Competition Commissioner

In an unprecedented move, Margrethe Vestager has been appointed as both EU Commissioner for Competition and Executive Vice-President responsible for co-ordinating the Commission's agenda on a Europe fit for the digital age.

The new College, announced on 10 September, will have eight Vice-Presidents, three of whom will have a double role, like Margrethe Vestager.

Vestager’s re-appointment to the role of Commissioner for Competition is an exceptional vote of confidence in her abilities and has been welcomed by the competition bars in Europe and the UK.

In her first term of office, she can be credited for promoting greater awareness of competition issues, many making headline news including in high profile cases such as Google Shopping and Google Android and in state aid cases involving individual tax arrangements.

In my view the dual appointment does not present a conflict. It may also contribute to policy cohesion provided that there is a clearly defined policy mandate for the two roles.

The change of Competition Commissioner does not usually signal a dramatic shift in focus for DG Competition.  If anything, Vestager’s re-appointment to the role means that those operating in the digital sector can expect continued scrutiny.

The new European Commission takes office on 1 November 2019, subject to the approval of the European Parliament.