On Wednesday 25 October, the General Court of the European Union annulled a decision by the European Commission which found that the Bulgarian state-owned company Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) had abused its dominant position on the gas supply market (Case T-136/19).
One of the group’s subsidiaries, Bulgartransgaz, controlled the gas distribution networks in Bulgaria at the time of the events, as well as the only underground gas storage infrastructure in Bulgaria. Another subsidiary, Bulgargaz, controlled gas distribution in Bulgaria.
Russian gas, on which Romania and Bulgaria were dependent at the time, was transported via Ukraine through a transit pipeline managed by Romania’s gas transmission system operator, Transgaz.
Following the extension of an intergovernmental agreement in 2005, Bulgargaz was granted exclusive operation of this infrastructure until 2016.
However, in 2016, the energy supplier Overgas filed a complaint against BEH, Bulgartransgaz and Bulgargaz.
The European Commission imposed a fine of €77 million on BEH, Bulgartransgaz and Bulgargaz, finding that BEH had abused its dominant position by refusing to allow third parties access to the infrastructures it controlled between 30 July 2010 and 1 January 2015.
In its judgment of 25 October, the General Court found that the Commission had not sufficiently established that BEH’s conduct constituted an abuse of a dominant position.
In the absence of alternative infrastructure, the General Court ruled that the transit network was an essential piece of infrastructure. Its exclusive use by BEH’s subsidiary does constitute a dominant position, but the behaviour of BEH’s subsidiary in this context is not sufficient to explain the problems of competitors seeking access to the transit pipeline to transport Russian gas.
In addition, the General Court found that the rights of the defence had been infringed, as the Commission had not sufficiently allowed the defence to put forward its case.
Link to the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/996 (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)