BRUSSELS, July 13. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has urged the General Court to rule again on the judgment in which it annulled the decision of the European Commission to block the project of acquisition of Telefónica Europe (O2) by Hutchison 3G UK Investments (Three).
In its ruling this Thursday, the CJEU has annulled the first ruling against the Brussels veto, considering that the General Court made errors when interpreting the merger regulation.
Specifically, the CJEU points out that the General Court imposed an evidentiary requirement that finds no basis in the regulation on concentrations, in addition to making a restrictive interpretation that it describes as “incompatible” with the objective of this regulation.
Likewise, it considers that the first ruling erred when comparing this matter with the other merger matters examined by the Commission and also by not having carried out -once its examination of the grounds of the factors and the findings in question by CK Telecoms in the first instance, and taking into account the result of that examination– an overall assessment of the factors and the relevant findings to verify whether the Commission had demonstrated the existence of a significant impediment to effective competition.
The CJEU also considers that the Commission did indeed carry out an assessment of a possible deterioration in the quality of the network of the entity resulting from the planned concentration and that the General Court distorted its decision by declaring that this assessment had not been made. .
Thus, given the magnitude, nature and scope of the errors incurred by the General Court, which affect the whole of its reasoning, the Court of Justice annuls the appealed judgment and refers the matter back to the General Court, which will judge again this dispute in its entirety taking into account all the clarifications provided by the Court of Justice in the framework of the appeal.
