Judgment of the General Court of 24 May 2023 – Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission
(Case T-452/20) 1
(Competition – Data market – Administrative procedure – Article 18(3) and Article 24(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 – Request for information – Virtual data room – Obligation to state reasons – Legal certainty – Rights of the defence – Necessity of the information requested – Misuse of powers – Right to privacy – Proportionality – Principle of good administration – Professional secrecy)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, formerly Facebook Ireland Ltd (Dublin, Ireland) (represented by: D. Jowell KC, D. Bailey, Barrister, J. Aitken, D. Das, S. Malhi, R. Haria, M. Quayle, Solicitors, and T. Oeyen, lawyer)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: G. Conte, C. Urraca Caviedes and C. Sjödin, acting as Agents)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: S. Costanzo, acting as Agent)
Re:
By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 3013 final of 4 May 2020 relating to a proceeding under Article 18(3) and Article 24(1)(d) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40684 – Facebook Marketplace), as amended by Commission Decision C(2020) 9229 final of 11 December 2020.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission, including those incurred in the proceedings for interim relief;
Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to bear its own costs.
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1 OJ C 287, 31.8.2020.