The General Court of the European Union has adopted a position in two cases related to the compliance of the Russian gas giant Gazprom with EU competition law, in two judgments that were delivered on Wednesday 2 February (cases T-616/18 and T-399/19).
Case T-616/18. The General Court first rejected the complaint lodged by Polish wholesaler PGNiG that alleged abusive practices by Gazprom; this overlapped with the concerns the European Commission had expressed in a statement of objections made in April 2015. The Commission accused the Russian gas company of abusing its dominant position in the national upstream wholesale gas supply markets in eight Central and Eastern European countries in order to prevent the free flow of gas.
See the judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/5a
Case T-399/19. In contrast to this, the General Court upheld the complaint lodged by the same Polish wholesaler and annulled the European Commission’s decision to reject, in April 2019, a complaint made by PGNiG against alleged anti-competitive practices undertaken by Gazprom. The Polish wholesaler had complained that the Russian gas company had engaged in abusive practices by subordinating the conclusion of a contract for the supply of additional gas volumes within the context of a supply shortage experienced by PGNiG in 2009 and 2010 to conditions aimed at strengthening its influence over the management of the Polish section of the Yamal pipeline.
According to the European judge, the European Commission violated European competition law (Regulation 773/2004) by failing to fulfil its obligation to inform the complainant.
See the judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/5b (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)