CAT refuses application for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice in MIFs damages action

 

CAT refuses application for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice in MIFs damages action

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has refused an application by Visa to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union under Article 267 TFEU for a preliminary ruling.

The application concerns actions by 479 merchants claiming damages for alleged infringements of Article 101/102 of the TFEU and UK law equivalent provisions on account of Visa setting the level of Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs) in transactions under its system. The claims are among a large number of similar claims that have been brought by merchants against both Visa and Mastercard.

The question at issue was whether in a claim alleging an infringement of Article 101(1) should each scheme's MIFs be judged against a counterfactual in which the other scheme remains free to compete by setting its own MIFs independently.

The CAT concluded there was no justification, within the terms of Article 267 of the TFEU, to refer the proposed question to the CJEU in order to decide the cases pending before the CAT.

Dune Shoes Ireland Limited & others v Visa Europe Limited & others, [2020] CAT 26, judgment of 22 December 2020