Telecommunications companies: One meeting with any competitor is enough to violate the EU's competition laws and result in fines
This commentary's purpose is to review how Telfort, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and others discovered that one meeting of any type with any telecommunications competitor could result in fines up to 10 percent of total turnover under EU competition law Regulation no. 1/2003, Article 23(2)(a), and to provide planning tips on how to eliminate the potential for those adverse consequences. While competition laws do not apply solely to the telecommunications industry, they do seem to affect it disproportionately. Telecommunications companies have global reach, and some of the most stringent competition law exists in Europe. Thus, all should review the most recent telecommunications ruling from the European Court of Justice, T-Mobile Netherlands BV v. Raad van bestuur van der Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit C-8/08 (2009). 1 The ruling deals with whether the one meeting was concerted activity in violation of Article 81(1) EC.
telecommunications competition law fines