XXIXth Report on competition policy 1999

Directorate-General For Translation European Commission

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Competition policy

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• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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XXIXth Report on Competition Policy
1 6 8 KD-28-00-018-EN-C
1999
European Commission
XXIXth Report
on Competition Policy
1999
(Published in conjunction with the
‘General Report on the Activities
of the European Union — 1999’)
Price (excluding VAT) in Luxembourg: EUR 21 ISBN 92-828-9984-5
OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
9 789282 899847L-2985 Luxembourg ENEuropean Commission
XXIXth Report
on Competition Policy
1999
(Published in conjunction with the
‘General Report on the Activities
of the European Union — 1999’)
Brussels • Luxembourg, 2000A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2000
ISBN 92-828-9984-5
© European Communities, 2000
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Italy
PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPERContents
NOTICE TO THE READER 6
FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR MARIO MONTI 7
Part One — XIXth Report on competition policy 1999 13
INTRODUCTION 19
I — Antitrust — Articles 81 and 82 State monopolies and monopoly rights —
Articles 31 and 86 23
A — Modernisation of the legislative and interpretative rules 23
B — Consolidating the single market 30
C — Sector-based policies 37
D — Statistics 57
II — Merger control 59
A — Introduction 59
B — New developments 60
C — Statistics 78
III — State aid 81
A — General policy 81
B — Concept of aid 85
C — Assessing the compatibility of aid with the common market 90
D — Procedures 106
E — Statistics 109
IV — International activities 111
A — Enlargement 111
B — Bilateral cooperation 114
C — Multilateral cooperation 118
V — Outlook for 2000 121
ANNEX — CASES DISCUSSED IN THE REPORT 125
COMPETITION REPORT 19994 CONTENTS
Part Two — Report on the application of the competition rules in the
European Union 129
I — Antitrust: Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the EC Treaty — Article 65 of the ECSC
Treaty 135
A — Case summaries 135
B — New legislative provisions and notices adopted or proposed by the Commission 172
C — Formal decisions pursuant to Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the EC Treaty 172
D — Cases closed by comfort letter in 1999 174
E — Notices pursuant to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty 179
F — Press releases 180
G — Judgments and orders of the Community courts 182
II — Merger control: Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 and Article 66 of the
ECSC Treaty 185
A — Summaries of decisions taken under Article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No
4064/89 185
B — Summaries of decisions taken under Article 8 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 191
C — Decisions pursuant to Article 2(4) of the ECMR (joint venture cases) 196
D — Commission decisions 202
E — Press releases 210
F — Judgments of the Community courts 220
III — State aid 221
A — Case summaries 221
B — New legislative provisions and notices adopted or proposed by the Commission 277
C — List of state aid cases in sectors other than agriculture, fisheries, and the coal industry 278
D — List of state aid cases in other sectors 292
E — Judgments of the Community courts 308
F — Enforcement of Commission decisions ordering the recovery of aid 310
IV — International 319
Commission report to the Council and the European Parliament on the application of the
Agreement between the European Communities and the Government of the United States
of America regarding the application of their competition laws 1 January 1999 to 31
December 1999 319
Commission Report to the Council and the European Parliament on the application of the
Agrnment of Canada regarding
the application of their competition laws, 17 June 1999 to 31 December 1999 333
COMPETITION REPORT 1999CONTENTS 5
V — The application of competition rules in the Member States 337
A — Legislative developments 337
B — Application of the Community competition rules by national authorities 343
C — Application of the Community competition rules by courts in the Member States 354
D — Application of the 1993 notice on cooperation between the Commission and national
courts 363
E — Application of Articles 81 and 82 by national competition authorities 364
VI — Statistics 367
A — Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the EC Treaty + Article 65 of the ECSC Treaty 367
B — Council Regulation (EC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of
concentrations between undertakings 368
C — State aid 370
VII — Studies 373
VIII — Reactions to the twenty-eighth Report 381
A — European Parliament 381
B — Economic and Social Committee 386
COMPETITION REPORT 1999Notice to the reader
The Treaty of Amsterdam entered into force on 1 May 1999. This Treaty provides for the renumbering
of the articles of both the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European
Community. This report adopts the new numbering system. Nevertheless, reference is made to the old
numeration, when quoting from the titles of legislative acts adopted prior to the alteration in numbering
or when quoting from the content of documents written prior to 1 May 1999. To draw the reader’s
attention to these changes, all quotations using the old numbering appear in italics.
To assist the reader, the corresponding old and new numbers of the articles cited in this report are given
below:
Old number New number
Article 37 Article 31
Article 85 Article 81
Article 86 Article 82
Article 89 Article 85
Article 90 Article 86
Article 92 Article 87
Article 93 Article 88
Article 100a Article 95
Article 169 Article 226
Article 173 Article 230
Article 175 Article 232
Article 177 Article 234
Article 190 Article 253
COMPETITION REPORT 1999FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR MARIO MONTI,
Member of the Commission with special responsibility for competition policy
Competition policy is relevant not only for those in business and their advisers, but also for the citizens of Eu-
rope, who need to have an overall view of how competition policy is implemented and its relevance to im-
proving their daily lives. One of the essential roles of competition is to promote innovation and ensure that
goods and services are produced as efficiently as possible and that these efficiencies are benefiting con-
sumers in the form of lower prices or improvements in quality, choice or services. For example, during the
period 1997-99, residential tariffs for international calls fell, on average, by 40 % in most Member States.
The introduction of competition to this sector resulted not only in a reduction in prices but also gave rise to a
considerable increase in the supply of new and efficient services and products.
Another role is to ensure that markets are sufficiently competitive in order to keep up with globalisation,
and to support employment. For example, State aid control helps to foster structural change and thereby
contributes to the development of competitive and innovative industry structures, which safeguard the
creation of new jobs. Without competition the driving forces behind growth and employment would be
lost. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the competition rules be clear, transparent, and
efficiently enforced. But competition rules must also keep up with the pace of economic and
technological development in the 21st century.
This year, I would therefore like to put the spotlight on the need to modernise Community competition
law, both in the area of antitrust, where the actions of companies may distort competition, and in the area
of State aid, where the actions of Member States may produce similar effects.
Reform in the field of vertical restraints
In 1999, new competition rules in the field of vertical restraints were established. This follows a thorough
policy review and an extensive consultation exercise, which commenced in 1997 with the publication of
the Commission’s Green Paper on vertical restraints. The reform of the Commission’s policy in the area
of vertical restraints represents an important pillar in the overall reform process. This review exercise
resulted in the reaching of a consensus in favour of an approach which focuses on economic analysis,
with vertical restraints being assessed in terms of their impact on the market and not of their form. Such
a consensus has major implications for review of policy in other areas.
This is a policy area where the need for reform was widely acknowledged. In fact, the block exemption reg-
ulations concerning certain types of distribution agreement had been criticised in recent years for being too
narrow in scope and over-formalistic in their approach and for imposing a straitjacket on industry which was
incompatible with the evolution of production and distribution methods. The Commission’s reform is aimed
at simplifying the rules and reducing the regulatory burden for companies, especially companies lacking
market power like SMEs, while ensuring a more effective control of vertical restraints implemented by com-
panies holding significant market power.
COMPETITION REPORT 19998 FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR MARIO MONTI
The Council agreed with the Commission’s plans for reform in June 1