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CR Focus 19th November 2008
 
In the News

EC fines car glass manufacturing cartel €1 383 896 000 >>>more>>>

 
European Notifications and Publications
Mergers - Invitations to Comment

European Mergers - Requests for Comment >>>more>>>

Mergers Cleared

Invitrogen/Applied Biosystems >>>more>>>

IBM/ILOG >>>more>>>

GameStop/Micromania >>>more>>>

State Aid

EC approves Dutch State Aid for emergency recapitalisation of ING Groep N.V. >>>more>>>

EC approves Finnish aid for support scheme for financial institutions >>>more>>>

EC approves Italian aid for refinancing of credit institutions >>>more>>>

EC approves Italian rescue aid to regional air carrier Alpi eagles SpA >>>more>>>

EC concludes Italian loan to Alitalia unlawful aid following in depth investigation, but grants permission for selling assets >>>more>>>

EC determines La Banque Postale did not receive state aid under retirement pension financing reform for La Poste's state-payroll employees >>>more>>>

EC publishes latest State Aid Scoreboard >>>more>>>

EC welcomes ECJ's ruling on recovering illegal State Aid >>>more>>>

Speeches

Neelie Kroes speech: "EU competition rules - part of the solution for Europe's economy" >>>more>>>

Charlie McCreevy speech: "Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)" >>>more>>>

Charlie McCreevy speech: "Opening address at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market" >>>more>>>

Charlie McCreevy speech: "Prudential Supervision in an Integrated Market" >>>more>>>

Joaquín Almunia speech: "A recipe for recovery: the European response to the financial crisis" >>>more>>>

Meglena Kuneva speech: "High level EU-China-US Trilateral Summit on Product Safety" >>>more>>>

Viviane Reding speech: "Digital Europe: the Internet Mega-trends that will Shape Tomorrow's Europe" >>>more>>>

Viviane Reding speech: "Empowering users: the key to the development of the Information Society" >>>more>>>

Miscellaneous

DG Competition publishes decision prohibiting anti-competitive agreement between European Collecting societies members of CISAC >>>more>>>

EC publishes memo outlining ways of working towards a secure, sustainable and competitive European energy network >>>more>>>

EC requests further market data from Slovenian telecoms watchdog regarding joint dominance in mobile market to enable conclusions of draft regulatory measures >>>more>>>

EC informs Spanish telecoms regulator that it has misgivings on draft measures regarding wholesale broadband access market >>>more>>>

EC's Viviane Reding welcomes Italy's telecom's regulators commitment to further reducing mobile termination rates >>>more>>>

 
UK Notifications & Publications
Consultations

Ofwat: appointment of new sewerage undertaker for site at Knowle Village, near Fareham >>>more>>>

CAT

Enron Coal Services Limited (in liquidation) v English Welsh & Scottish Railway Limited >>>more>>>

Competition Commission

CC publishes provisional decision on remedies in Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) investigation >>>more>>>

Mergers - Invitation to Comment

Lochard Ltd/Spectris plc >>>more>>>

Mergers Full Text Decisions

Arriva plc/certain assets of K.M.P. (Llanberis) Limited >>>more>>>

Co-operative Group Limited/Somerfield Limited >>>more>>>

Glatfelter Lydney Ltd/Metallised Products Limited >>>more>>>

Mergers Cleared

Orbital Marketing Services Group Limited/Ocean Park Limited >>>more>>>

Miscellaneous

OFT finds Cardiff Bus engaged in predatory behaviour to eliminate competitor >>>more>>>

Ofcom issues update note to its own-initiative enforcement programme to give effect to General Condition 22 (Service Migrations) >>>more>>>

Ofcom sets out key tests criteria future partnerships between public service broadcasters will have to meet >>>more>>>

 
In the News

European Commission fines car glass manufacturing cartel €1 383 896 000. To read the press release, click here, here and here.

 
European Notifications and Publications
Mergers - Invitations to Comment

COMP/M.5224: EDF/British Energy - generation and trading of electricity. Interested parties should submit their comments by 21 November 2008. To read the notification, click here.

COMP/M.5295: Teva/Barr - development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals. Interested parties should submit their comments by 21 November 2008. To read the notification, click here.

COMP/M.5357: GKN/Airbus Filton Wing Component Operation - manufacture and supply of components to aerospace and automotive industry. Candidate for simplified procedure. Interested parties should submit their comments by 28 November 2008. To read the notification, click here.

COMP/M.5361: Bank of America/Merrill Lynch - banking. Candidate for simplified procedure. Interested parties should submit their comments by 25 November 2008. To read the notification, click here.

COMP/M.5366: Iberdrola Renovables/Gamesa Energía - renewable electricity, windfarms. Interested parties should submit their comments by 24 November 2008. To read the notification, click here.

Mergers Cleared

COMP/M.5264: Invitrogen/Applied Biosystems - supply of cell and culture media, instrument based systems for academic research, the life science industry and commercial markets. To read the press release, click here.

COMP/M.5317: IBM/ILOG - production and marketing of IT solutions. To read the press release, click here.

COMP/M.5356: GameStop/Micromania - video game products. To read the decision, click here.

State Aid

The European Commission has approved the Dutch State Aid for the emergency recapitalisation of ING Groep N.V. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has approved the Finnish aid for a support scheme for financial institutions. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has approved the Italian aid for the refinancing of credit institutions. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has approved the Italian rescue aid in the sum of €17 million to Alpi eagles SpA, a regional air carrier based in the Veneto region of Italy. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has concluded that the €300 million loan from Italy to Alitalia was unlawful aid following its in depth investigation, but has granted permission for the selling of its assets which do not constitute State aid providing the parties comply with the undertakings given. To read the press release, click here and here.

The European Commission has determined that France's La Banque Postale did not receive state aid under the retirement pension financing reform for La Poste's state-payroll employees. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has published the latest State Aid Scoreboard. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has welcomed the ECJ's ruling on recovering illegal State Aid. To read the press release, click here.

Speeches

Neelie Kroes speech: "EU competition rules - part of the solution for Europe's economy". To read the speech, click here.

Charlie McCreevy speech: "Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)". To read the speech, click here.

Charlie McCreevy speech: "Opening address at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market". To read the speech, click here.

Charlie McCreevy speech: "Prudential Supervision in an Integrated Market". To read the speech, click here.

Joaquín Almunia speech: "A recipe for recovery: the European response to the financial crisis". To read the speech, click here.

Meglena Kuneva speech: "High level EU-China-US Trilateral Summit on Product Safety". To read the speech, click here.

Viviane Reding speech: "Digital Europe: the Internet Mega-trends that will Shape Tomorrow's Europe". To read the speech, click here.

Viviane Reding speech: "Empowering users: the key to the development of the Information Society". To read the speech, click here.

Miscellaneous

DG Competition has published its decision prohibiting an anti-competitive agreement between European Collecting societies members of CISAC. To read the decision, click here.

The European Commission has published a memo outlining ways of working towards a secure, sustainable and competitive European energy network. To read the memo, click here and here.

The European Commission has requested further market data from the Slovenian telecoms watchdog regarding joint dominance in the mobile market before concluding draft regulatory measures. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commission has told the Spanish telecoms regulator that it has misgivings on the draft measures regarding its wholesale broadband access market. To read the press release, click here.

The European Commissions Viviane Reding has welcomed Italy's telecom's regulators commitment to further reducing mobile termination rates. To read the press release, click here.

 
UK Notifications & Publications
Consultations

Ofwat has opened a consultation to appoint a new sewerage undertaker for a site at Knowle Village, near Fareham. Interested parties should submit their comments by 12 December 2008. To read the notification, click here and here.

CAT

Enron Coal Services Limited (in liquidation) v English Welsh & Scottish Railway Limited. The CAT has published the Notice of Claim for Damages. To read the claim, click here.

Competition Commission

The Competition Commission has published the provisional decision on remedies in relation to the
Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) investigation. To read the decision, click here and here.

Mergers - Invitation to Comment

Lochard Ltd/Spectris plc - environmental noise management. Interested parties should submit their comments by 24 November 2008. To read the notification, click here.

Mergers Full Text Decisions

Arriva plc/certain assets of K.M.P. (Llanberis) Limited - local bus services North West Wales. To read the full text decision, click here.

Co-operative Group Limited/Somerfield Limited - grocery retail. To read the full text decision, click here.

Glatfelter Lydney Ltd/Metallised Products Limited - manufacture and supply of metallised paper. To read the full text decision, click here.

Mergers Cleared

Orbital Marketing Services Group Limited/Ocean Park Limited - distribution of travel brochures. Cleared under the de minimis exemption. Although there is a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition, the OFT considered that a reference to the Competition Commission would be disproportionate given that there was substantial countervailing buyer power and any adversely affected market would have an annual turnover less than £5m. To read the decision, click here and here.

Miscellaneous

The OFT has found that Cardiff Bus engaged in predatory behaviour with the intention of eliminating a competitor. To read the press release, click here.

Ofcom has issued an update note in relation to its own-initiative enforcement programme to give effect to General Condition 22 (Service Migrations). To read the update, click here.

Ofcom has set out key tests criteria that future partnerships between public service broadcasters will have to meet. To read the press release, click here.