Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 12 May 2022

Servizio Elettrico Nazionale SpA and Others v Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato and Others

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Competition – Dominant position – Abuse – Article 102 TFEU – Effect of a practice on the well-being of consumers and on the structure of the market – Abusive exclusionary practice – Whether the practice is capable of producing an exclusionary effect – Recourse to means other than those coming within the scope of competition on the merits – Hypothetical as-efficient competitor unable to replicate the practice – Existence of an anticompetitive intent – Opening-up of the market for the sale of electricity to competition – Transfer of commercially sensitive information within a group of undertakings in order to preserve a dominant market position inherited from a statutory monopoly – Whether a subsidiary’s conduct can be imputed to the parent company

Case C-377/20


Top of the page Documents in the Case
Document Date Name of the parties Subject-matter Curia EUR-Lex Autres Liens
National decision following the preliminary ruling
ECLI:IT:CDS:2022:10571SENT		 17/11/2022 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
External Link
Judgment (OJ)
17/06/2022 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
- Dominant position
  • Competition
  • - Dominant position
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Judgment
ECLI:EU:C:2022:379		 12/05/2022 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
- Dominant position
  • Competition
  • - Dominant position
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Abstract
ECLI:EU:C:2022:379		 12/05/2022 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
- Dominant position
  • Competition
  • - Dominant position
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Application (OJ)
02/10/2020 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
- Dominant position
  • Competition
  • - Dominant position
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Request for a preliminary ruling
29/07/2020 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
- Dominant position
  • Competition
  • - Dominant position
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Opinion
ECLI:EU:C:2021:998		 09/12/2021 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
- Dominant position
  • Competition
  • - Dominant position
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Top of the page Legal analysis of the decision or of the case

Reports of Cases

published in the electronic Reports of Cases (Court Reports - general)

Subject-matter

Information not available

Systematic classification scheme

1.
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.04 Abuse of a dominant position
        4.08.02.04.00 General
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.05 Implementation by the national competition authorities
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.04 Abuse of a dominant position
        4.08.02.04.00 General
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.05 Implementation by the national competition authorities
-
1 The legal order of the European Union
  1.01 Sources of EU law
    1.01.02 General principles of law
      1.01.02.05 Rights of the defence and procedural guarantees
-
1 The legal order of the European Union
  1.04 Fundamental rights
    1.04.03 The fundamental rights
      1.04.03.41 Right to good administration
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.05 Implementation by the national competition authorities
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.04 Abuse of a dominant position
        4.08.02.04.01 Definition of abuse
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.04 Abuse of a dominant position
        4.08.02.04.01 Definition of abuse
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.05 Implementation by the national competition authorities
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.04 Abuse of a dominant position
        4.08.02.04.01 Definition of abuse
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.04 Abuse of a dominant position
        4.08.02.04.02 Examples of abuse
-
1 The legal order of the European Union
  1.04 Fundamental rights
    1.04.03 The fundamental rights
      1.04.03.41 Right to good administration
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.02 Dominant position
      4.08.02.00 General
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.05 Implementation by the national competition authorities


Citations of case-law or legislation

References in grounds of judgment

Operative part

Opinion


Dates

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings

Information not available

Date of the Opinion

  • 09/12/2021

Date of the hearing

Information not available

Date of delivery

12/05/2022


References

Publication in the Official Journal

Information not available

Name of the parties

Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others

Notes on Academic Writings

  1. Idot, Laurence: Concurrence - Notion d'abus, Europe 2022, n° 7 Juillet, comm. 239 (FR)
  2. Buytaert, Tom: Arrêt « Servizio Elettrico Nazionale » : abus de position dominante découlant de pratiques d’éviction dans le contexte de la libéralisation du marché électrique, Journal de droit européen 2022, nº 10, p. 466-470 (FR)
  3. Idot, Laurence: L'article 102 TFUE et les suites de l'arrêt Intel, Revue trimestrielle de droit européen 2022, n° 4, p. 766-774 (FR)
  4. Elkerbout, Ruben: Zaak C-377/20 (Servizio Elettrico Nazionale) : reproductie van het raamwerk van artikel 102 VWEU, HvJ EU 12 mei 2022, C-377/20, Markt & Mededinging 2022 p. 185-191 (NL)
  5. Wachsmann, Anne ; Zacharie, Nicolas ; Green, Daniel: Notion d'abus : La Cour de justice de l'Union européenne précise les critères à retenir pour qualifier l'exploitation abusive d'une position dominante caractérisée par des pratiques d'éviction (Servizio Elettrico Nazionale), Concurrences : revue des droits de la concurrence 2022, nº 3, p. 88-90 (FR)
  6. Auer, Dirk ; Radic, Lazare: The Growing Legacy of Intel, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 2023, Volume 14, Issue 1, p. 15-23 (EN)
  7. Komninos, Assimakis: A Steady Course Towards the Effects-Based Approach : CaseC-377/20 Servizio Elettrico Nazionale, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 2023, Volume 14, Issue 5, p. 290-292 (EN)
  8. Nebbia, Paolisa: The interaction of competition, consumer and data protection laws: a few comments inspired by the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, ERA-Forum : scripta iuris europaei 2023, Volume 23, Issue 4, p. 515-527 (EN)
  9. Pfister, Etienne: Le renouveau de l'abus de position dominante: l'approche plus économique de la Cour de justice de l'Union européenne, Revue Lamy de la Concurrence 2024, nº 139, p. 27-32 (FR)



Procedural Analysis Information

Source of the question referred for a preliminary ruling

Consiglio di Stato - Italy

Subject-matter

  • Competition
  • - Dominant position

Provisions of national law referred to

Information not available

Provisions of international law referred to

Information not available

Procedure and result

  • Reference for a preliminary ruling

Formation of the Court

Cinquième chambre (Cour)

Judge-Rapporteur

Regan

Advocate General

Rantos

Language(s) of the Case

  • Italian

Language(s) of the Opinion

  • French