Competition policy newsletter. Number 1, Spring 2007.
Date: 2007-06-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition
Subjects: EU policy, competition policy, serial publication

Competition DG’s address on the world wide web:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/competition/index_en.htm

Europa competition web site:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/index_en.html

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ISSN 1025-2266

COMPETITION POLICY

NEWSLETTER

2007  Æ  NUMBER 1  Æ  SPRING
Published three times a year by the 
Competition Directorate-General of the European Commission

Also available online: 
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/cpn/

I N S I D E :

•  Commission’s enforcement record in 2006 by Philip Lowe

•  Effective unbundling of energy transmission networks: 

lessons from the Energy Sector Inquiry by Philip Lowe et al.

•  Leniency: Revised notice and the ECN Model Leniency Programme

• Draft non-horizontal merger Guidelines

•  End of exemptions in maritime transport

• Pharmaceuticals after the AstraZeneca case

•  New community framework for state aid for research and develop-

ment and innovation

• State aid for films

• Sector inquiries: Energy sector — Retail banking — Business insurance.

•  Gaz de France/Suez

MAIN DEVELOPMENTS ON

• Antitrust — Cartels — Merger control — State aid control

EC COMPETITION
POLICY NEWSLETTER

Editors:
Kevin Coates
Thomas Deisenhofer
Jean Huby

Address:
European Commission,
J-70, 04/136
Brussel B-1049 Bruxelles
E-mail: 
infocomp@ec.europa.eu

World Wide Web:
http://ec.europa.eu/
competition/index_en.html

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Contents
1	 Commission’s enforcement record in 2006 by Philip LOWE
Articles
3	

The new community framework for state aid for research and development and innovation by Thibaut KLEINER and 
Renate REPPLINGER-HACH

7	 Commission adopts revised Leniency Notice to reward companies that report hard-core cartels by Sari SUURNÄKKI 

and María Luisa TIERNO CENTELLA

16	 Commission  launches  public  consultation  on  draft  Non-Horizontal  Merger  Guidelines  by  Giuseppe  CONTE,  Kay 

PARPLIES and Vincent VEROUDEN

20	 Milestones in maritime transport: EU ends exceptions by Fabrizia BENINI and Carsten BERMIG
Opinions	and	comments
23	 Effective  unbundling  of  energy  transmission  networks:  lessons  from  the  Energy  Sector  Inquiry  by  Philip  LOWE, 

Ingrida PUCINSKAITE, William WEBSTER and Patrick LINDBERG

35	 ECN Model Leniency Programme — a first step towards a harmonised leniency policy in the EU by Céline GAUER 

and Maria JASPERS

39	 Competition in Pharmaceuticals: the challenges ahead post AstraZeneca by Nadia DE SOUZA
44	 State aid for films — a policy in motion? by Jérôme BROCHE, Obhi CHATTERJEE, Irina ORSSICH and Nóra TOSICS
49	 Solving problems at the sources: why telecommunications regulation should focus on wholesale, not on retail, 

markets by Iratxe GURPEGUI and Przemyslaw KORDASIEWICZ

Antitrust
55	 The Energy Sector Inquiry: conclusions and way forward by Eleonora WÄKTARE, Kristóf KOVÁCS and Alexander GEE
60	 Sector Inquiry Identifies Widespread Competition Barriers in Retail Banking by Elena CAPRIOLI, Elke GRAEPER, Agata 

MALCZEWSKA, Tanya PANOVA, Jean ALLIX, Andras JANECSKO, Paul MCGHEE, Lukas REPA and Antonio Carlos TEIXEIRA

62	 Sector Inquiry into Business Insurance — Commission seeks comments on Interim Report by Concetta CULTRERA, 

Christoph EMSBACH, Mourad HADDAD and Antonio Carlos TEIXEIRA

Cartels
65	 Commission  fines  copper  fittings  producers  €  314.7  million  for  price  fixing  cartel  by  Glykeria  DEMATAKI  and 

Rainer WESSELY

68	 Commission fines producers and traders of synthetic rubber € 519 million for price fixing and market sharing cartel 

by Massimo DE LUCA and Bjarke LIST

71	 Commission fines fourteen undertakings a total of € 266 million for participating in a cartel for road pavement 

bitumen in the Netherlands by Jan NUIJTEN and Bertus VAN BARLINGEN

74	 Commission re-adopts cartel decisions in the steel sector by Téa Katarina BROMS and Susanne LAGEARD
Merger	control
77	 Mergers  —  Main  developments  between  1  September  and  31  December  2006  by  Mary  LOUGHRAN  and 

John GATTI

83	 Gaz de France/Suez: Keeping energy markets in Belgium and France open and contestable through far-reaching 
remedies  by  Kirsten  BACHOUR,  Giuseppe  CONTE,  Peter  EBERL,  Clémentine  MARTINI,  Alessandro  PAOLICCHI,  Philippe 
REDONDO, Augustijn VAN HAASTEREN, Geert WILS

92	 Empirical estimation of a discrete choice model for filler calcium carbonates in the paper industry by Benoît DURAND 

and Enrico PESARESI

State	aid
101	ECJ  Judgement  of  5  October  2006  Commission  v.  France:  A  major  step  forward  for  the  recovery  policy 

by Bernadette WILLEMOT and Anne FORT

104	Recent training aid cases in the car industry by Andrés GARCIA BERMUDEZ and Christophe GALAND
109	Regional investment aid to the shipbuilding industry: How to deal with capacity increases? — Experience with the 

Volkswerft Stralsund and Rolandwerft cases by Sabine CROME and Charlotte DUPUIS

114	 State  aid  to  an  electronics  cluster  in  Poland:  Assessing  regional  investment  projects  in  the  context  of  spatial 

agglomeration by Agnieszka DRZEWOSKA, Jaime ROJO DE LA VIESCA and András TARI

121	 Poste Italiane: a market fee can fulfil the Altmark criteria by Daniel BOESHERTZ and Paola ICARDI
124	Utilisation  d’avances  remboursables  pour  aider  la  R&D:  mise  en  ligne  du  régime  belge  en  faveur  du  secteur 

aéronautique par Leen DE VREESE et Jean-Charles DJELALIAN

127	Clarification of the procedure for terminating rescue aid where the presentation of a restructuring plan does not 

justify the prolongation — comment on the decisions in case of rescue aid to CIT and Ottana by Max LIENEMEYER

130	Two Dutch cases on State aid and soil rehabilitation by Saskia DIRKZWAGER-DE RIJK
135	Information	section

© European Communities, 2007 
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The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Communities. 
Responsibility for the information and views expressed lies entirely with the authors.