Final Report of the Hearing Officer — Air France/KLM/Alitalia/Delta (AT.39964)
Date: 2015-04-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: air transport, carriage of passengers, infringement of EU law, inter-company agreement, market access, restriction on competition








C_2015212EN.01000401.xml










27.6.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 212/4





Final Report of the Hearing Officer (1)

Air France/KLM/Alitalia/Delta
(AT.39964)
(2015/C 212/04)






(1)


This case concerns a transatlantic joint venture agreement (the ‘TAJV Agreement’) concluded between Société Air France, Alitalia Società Aerea Italiana SpA, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV (the ‘Parties’) in relation to the establishment of a profit/loss-sharing joint venture, which covers, among other things, all passenger air transport services operated by the Parties on routes between Europe and North America (2). The TAJV Agreement provides for extensive cooperation between the Parties, including on pricing, capacity, scheduling and revenue management coordination.










(2)


On 23 January 2012, the European Commission (the ‘Commission’) opened proceedings with a view to adopting a decision under Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (3) in relation to the TAJV Agreement.










(3)


On 26 September 2014, the Commission adopted a Preliminary Assessment pursuant to Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, expressing its concerns as to the compatibility of the TAJV Agreement with Article 101 of the Treaty, in particular in relation to the market for premium passengers on the Paris-New York route and the markets for premium and non-premium passengers on the Amsterdam-New York and Rome-New York routes.










(4)


On 3 October 2014, the Parties submitted commitments to the Commission in response to the Preliminary Assessment. On 23 October 2014, the Commission published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union
 (4) pursuant to Article 27(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, summarising the case and the commitments and inviting interested third parties to give their observations on the commitments.










(5)


On 8 December 2014, the Commission provided the Parties with non-confidential versions of the observations made by interested third parties. On 23 February 2015, the Parties submitted amended commitments (‘the Final Commitments’).










(6)


The draft decision makes the Final Commitments binding on the Parties and concludes that in light of these, there are no longer grounds for action by the Commission and therefore the proceedings in this case should be brought to an end.










(7)


Having received no request or complaint from any party to the proceedings (5), I consider that the effective exercise of the procedural rights of all Parties in this case has been respected.





Brussels, 30 April 2015.

Joos STRAGIER




(1)  Pursuant to Articles 16 and 17 of Decision 2011/695/EU of the President of the European Commission of 13 October 2011 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain competition proceedings (OJ L 275, 20.10.2011, p. 29) (‘Decision 2011/695/EU’).

(2)  Mexico, USA and Canada.

(3)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1) (‘Regulation 1/2003’).

(4)  OJ C 376, 23.10.2014, p. 12.

(5)  According to Article 15(1) of Decision 2011/695/EU, parties to the proceedings offering commitments pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 may call upon the hearing officer at any stage of the procedure in order to ensure the effective exercise of their procedural rights.