Tetra Laval II: the Coming of Age of the Judicial Review of Merger Decisions

Abstract

The article examines the European Court of Justice’s (``ECJ’’) ruling in Commission v. Tetra Laval regarding the scope of judicial review by the Court of First Instance (``CFI’’) in the merger control area and the standard of proof incumbent on the European Commission (the ``Commission’’) to support its merger decisions. First, the article describes how the ECJ ruling confirms that the CFI must ensure a thorough judicial review and provides precise guidance on the tests to be applied by it. The authors suggest such guidance applies to all types of merger decisions, including those adopted under the new EC Merger Regulation. Additionally, the article acknowledges a perceptible convergence of the courts of several Member States on the need for meaningful judicial review, in line with the Community Courts’ case law. Then, the article examines the ECJ’s reasoning as regards the standard of proof, and how the Commission must carry out its prospective analysis and substantiate its decisions. Based on the ruling, the authors conclude that the standard of proof should be the same for all types of mergers and for both clearance and prohibition decisions. Finally, on the question of whether the ruling also applies to antitrust decisions, the authors suggest that the need to establish convincingly the merits of an argument is more significant than the type of decision. The Commission will have to be more convincing in complex cases, particularly where it relies on novel theories of competitive harm.