Judgment of the General Court of 12 October 2011 - Association belge des consommateurs test-achats v Commission
(Competition - Concentrations - Belgian energy market - Decision declaring a merger to be compatible with the common market - Commitments given during the initial phase of the investigation - Decision refusing the partial referral of the merger investigation to the national authorities - Action for annulment - Consumer association - Interest in bringing proceedings - Failure to initiate the in-depth review procedure - Procedural rights - Inadmissibility)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Association belge des consommateurs test-achats ASBL (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: A. Fratini and F. Filpo, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: N. Khan, A. Antoniadis and R. Sauer, Agents)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Électricité de France (EDF), (Paris, France), (represented initially by C. Lazarus, A. Amsellem and A. Fontanille, and subsequently by C. Lazarus and A. Creus Carreras, lawyers)
Re:
APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Decisions C(2009) 9059 and C(2009) 8954 of 12 November 2009, the former declaring a merger to be compatible with the common market (Case COMP/M.5549 - EDF/Segebel) under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (OJ 2004 L 24, p. 1), and the latter rejecting a request from the Belgian competition authorities for partial referral of the case in accordance with Article 9 of that regulation.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action as inadmissible;
Orders the Association belge des consommateurs test-achats ASBL to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
Orders Électricité de France (EDF) to bear its own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 209, 31.7.2010.