On Tuesday 7 March, the General Court annulled, the decision by which the Commission refused to authorise the merger between the US company United Parcel Service (UPS) and the Dutch firm, TNT Express.
In Europe, these two companies are particularly active in the international small package express delivery services sector. In January 2013, the Commission argued that the TNT takeover project by UPS would have reduced the number of large operators on these markets from 4 to 3 or even 2 (DHL and UPS) in certain countries. The Commission previously argued that this would lead to a price increase in 29 countries and would seriously reduce competition in 15 member states (see EUROPE 10775).
In its ruling (T-194/13), the General Court found in favour of the UPS appeal because it believes the Commission infringed UPS’ rights of defence by relying on an econometric analysis which had not been discussed in its final form during the administrative procedure. UPS did not, therefore, have the final version of this analysis and consequently, could not conduct its defence properly. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)