Court of Justice dismisses European
Commission’s appeal against General Court’s judgment in Intel abuse of
dominance decision
The Court of Justice of the EU has
dismissed an appeal by the European Commission against the General Court’s judgment
finding errors in the Commission’s 2009 decision that Intel had infringed Article
102 TFEU by imposing exclusivity rebates and other restrictions.
The judgment brings to an end a
long and tortuous history of procedural challenges. The General Court upheld the Commission’s findings
in its first judgment on the case in 2014.
However, the Court of Justice annulled that finding in 2017 and sent the
matter back to the General Court to examine all of Intel’s arguments about the application
of the ‘as efficient competitor’ (AEC) test.
The General Court then annulled the
Commission's decision in so far as it found that Intel's rebates infringed
Article 102, as well as the fine of EUR1.06 billion imposed on Intel. This was due to the errors that it found in
the Commission’s approach to the AEC test.
The Court of Justice found that the
General Court had not erred in its assessment of the ability of the rebates to
foreclose competition or in the application of the standard of proof applied in
assessing the AEC test. The Court of
Justice held that it was not for the General Court to ascertain whether the
operative part of the Commission's decision could be justified on the basis of
reasoning that did not contain the errors found, where that reasoning is not
set out coherently in that decision.
The decision brings to an end
another high-profile defeat for the Commission in relation to the appeal of an
exclusionary abuse of dominance case. The General Court has also annulled a EUR997
million abuse of dominance penalty against Qualcomm and quashed an EUR1.49
billion fine against Google. A key enforcement challenge for the Commission
will be managing such complex and evidence-based abuse cases within a
reasonable timeframe according to the correct test and standard of proof.
Case C‑240/22 P, European
Commission v Intel Corporation Inc., ECLI:EU:C:2024:915
