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European Commission reaction to Microsoft announcement of 25th January 2006
25 January 2006
The European Commission will study carefully the announcement made by Microsoft on 25th January once it has received the full details.
The Commission is looking forward to receiving, no later than 15th February 2006, Microsoft’s reply to the Statement of Objections sent by the Commission on 21st December 2005. The Commission sent the Statement of Objections because of Microsoft’s failure to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation to allow non-Microsoft workgroup servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. This was despite its obligation to do so under the terms of the Commission’s March 2004 decision that Microsoft was abusing its dominant market position.
The decision concerning full and accurate compliance by Microsoft with the European Commission’s March 2004 Decision rests with the Commission.
State aid: Commission approves aid to Centocor Inc. for the setting-up of a biopharmaceutical production plant in Ireland
25 January 2006
The European Commission has authorised, under the EC Treaty’s rules on state aid (Article 87), a direct grant of €48.25 million that the Irish Industrial Development Agency (IDA) plans to provide to Centocor Inc. for the establishment of a biopharmaceutical production plant on a greenfield site at Ringaskiddy, County Cork, Ireland. The Commission considered that the aid would not give rise to undue distortion of competition within the Single Market.
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Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of O2 by Telefónica, subject to conditions
11 January 2006
The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of UK telecommunications company O2 by the Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica. The Commission was concerned that the acquisition would result in distortions of competition in the market for international roaming services, in particular in the UK. In order to remove the Commission’s concerns, Telefónica has undertaken to leave the FreeMove alliance. In light of this commitment, the Commission has concluded that the transaction will not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any part of it.
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Competition: Commission warns Microsoft of daily penalty for failure to comply with
2004 decision
22 December 2005
The European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections against Microsoft for its failure to comply with certain of its obligations under the March 2004 Commission decision (the “March 2004 Decision”, see IP/04/382). That decision found Microsoft to have infringed the EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant position (Article 82) by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players. One of the remedies imposed by the decision was for Microsoft to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers.
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Competition: Commission publishes discussion paper on abuse of dominance
16 December 2005
The European Commission has published a Staff Discussion Paper on the application of
EC Treaty competition rules on the abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The
Discussion Paper is designed to promote a debate as to how EU markets are best protected from
dominant companies’ exclusionary conduct, conduct which risks weakening competition on a market. The
paper suggests a framework for the continued rigorous enforcement of Article 82, building on
the economic analysis carried out in recent cases, and setting out one possible methodology
for the assessment of some of the most common abusive practices, such as tying, and rebates and discounts.
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State aid: Commission requires partial repayment of aid for alumina production in France, Ireland and Italy
7 December 2005
The European Commission has decided under the EU state aid rules that for the period up to 30.12.2003,
part of the total exemptions from excise duty on mineral oils used as fuel for alumina production granted
by France, Ireland and Italy constitutes illegal operating aid liable to distort competition within the EU’s
Single Market. The aid has been given without prior Commission approval and would normally therefore be fully
repayable. However, given the specificities of the case and in particular the fact that these
exemptions had been authorised under EU rules on excise duties by Decisions of the EU’s Council
of Ministers based on Commission proposals, the Commission considers that until publication of its
decision to launch a formal investigation procedure the beneficiaries might had grounds to believe that the measures in question did not involve incompatible state aid. Consequently, the Commission has ordered the beneficiaries to repay only that part of the incompatible aid received from 03.02.2002 onwards. The investigation of the exemptions as from 1st January 2004 remains open.
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