The admissibility of appeals against the rejection of commitments by the French Competition Authority

Resume: The final word in the Sony PlayStation procedural saga was rendered by the Cour d’appel de Paris on 4th December 2025 (Cour d’appel de Paris, 4 déc. 2025, n° RG 24/04183, Sony). This solution follows a debate in the case law involving a ruling by the...

Professional exclusivity through the lens of object-based restrictions: severe penalties with problematic foundations

Resume: In Decision No. 26-D-03 of March 17, 2026, the French Competition Authority imposed a fine of €3.4 million on the National Union of French Ski Instructors (SNMSF) for having included, since May 12, 2006, an exclusivity clause in the standard instructor...

Unfair competition and freedom of trade: the requirement for a prohibition strictly proportionate to wrongful conduct alone

Resume: The Court of Cassation (Commercial Division, 28 January 2026, No. 23-20. 245) has partially quashed a judgment of the Court of Appeal which, having found acts of unfair competition, had imposed a general ban on the marketing of interfaces enabling GPS systems...

The Digital Advertising Dominance of Google: Exploitative Abuse and Judicial Limits (SAS Aowoa v. Google case)

Resume:. In January 2026, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled, in the case of SAS Aowoa v. Google, that Google committed an exploitative abuse of dominance by suspending, without adequate justification, the Google Ads accounts of Aowoa, a French provider of telephone...

The opinion of the authority on rating systems designed to provide consumers with information on the sustainability-related characteristics of consumer products and services

Resume: The Competition Authority was consulted on the issue of the rating systems designed to provide consumers with information on the sustainability-related characteristics of consumer products and services (French Competition Authority, January 9th, 2025, Opinion...

Two-sided markets and evidence in competition law: The Autority’s dismissal of the case due to the lack of conclusive evidence of abuse of a dominant position and economic dependance in research syndication

Resume:  In Decision No. 25-D-08 of November 27, 2025, the Autorité de la concurrence rejected Qwant’s complaint against Microsoft over search syndication practices, finding insufficient evidence to establish either a dominant position, given Google’s...