The Court of Justice’s March 2013 judgment in Allianz Hungária may constitute the single most significant development in EU competition law since the 2004 Modernization reforms. It blows apart the age-old distinction between, on the one hand, restrictions of competition “by object” (where effects on competition do not need to be proved) and, on the other hand, restrictions of competition by “effect” (where effects on competition do need to be proved). As a result of the judgment, it will be much easier for the European Commission (and national competition authorities in the EU’s Member States) to classify conduct as restrictive of competition for purposes of Article 101(1) TFEU.
This article originally appeared in The CPI Antitrust Chronicle.
