Court of Justice dismisses European Commission’s appeal against General Court’s judgment in Intel abuse of dominance decision

 

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