Judgment of the General Court Seventh Chamber, Extended Composition of 23 February 2022, United Parcel Service v Commission, T-834/17

• Date: 23 February 2022
• Year: 2022

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3. CONCENTRATIONS

Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber, Extended Composition) of 23 February

2022, United Parcel Service v Commission, T-834/17

Link to the complete text of the judgment

Non-contractual liability – Competition – Markets for international express small package delivery services

in the EEA – Concentration – Decision declaring the concentration incompatible with the internal market –

Annulment of the decision by a judgment of the Court – Rights of the defence – Sufficiently serious breach

of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals – Causal link

and

Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber, Extended Composition) of 23 February

2022, ASL Aviation Holdings and ASL Airlines (Ireland) v Commission, T-540/18

Link to the complete text of the judgment

Non-contractual liability – Competition – Markets for international express small package delivery services

in the EEA – Concentration – Decision declaring the concentration incompatible with the internal market –

Annulment of the decision by a judgment of the Court – General reference to other documents – Pleas in

law or complaints raised by a third party in another case – Evidence submitted in the reply – No

justification for the delay – Inadmissibility – Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer

rights on individuals

By decision of 30 January 2013 (‘the decision at issue’),

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the European Commission declared

incompatible with the internal market a notified concentration between United Parcel Service, Inc.

and TNT Express NV (‘TNT’), two undertakings present on the markets for international express small

package delivery services.

While publically announcing that it would not go ahead with that concentration, UPS brought an

action before the General Court for annulment of the decision at issue. By judgment of 7 March

2017,

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the General Court upheld that action and, by judgment of 16 January 2019,

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the Court of

Justice dismissed the appeal brought by the Commission against that judgment.

In the meantime, the Commission had declared compatible with the internal market a notified

concentration between TNT and FedEx Corp., a competitor of UPS.

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Commission Decision C(2013) 431 of 30 January 2 013 declaring a concentration incompatible with the internal market and the functioning of

the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.6570 – UPS/TNT Express); see also the Commiss ion’s press release IP/13/68.

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Judgment of 7 March 2017, United Parcel Service v Commission (T-194/13, EU:T:2017:144).

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Judgment of 16 January 2019, Commission v United Parcel Service (C-265/17 P, EU:C:2019:23).

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Decision of 8 January 2016 declaring a concentration compatible with t he internal market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement (Case

M.7630 – FedEx/TNT Express), a summary of which was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ 2016 C 450, p. 12).