EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

Telecommunications Office, the provider may comply with the duties within the additional period of 15 days in order not to be sanctioned. The fine is set up to 10,000,000 Czech crowns, approximately € 400,000. Such an amount is incomparably lower than the sanctions set by the Competition Act in field of abuse of dominant position or conclusion of cartel agreement. However, the amount also reflects the fact that the duties arising from the P2B Regulation is still rather new (Explanatory memorandum to the proposal, p. 17). In addition, it is still much lower than the sanctions imposed for breaches of the P2B Regulation in other Member States (see below). Besides that, according to the draft bill it should be possible to impose administrative penalties consisting of the publication of decisions on the administrative delict, thus informing the public about the unfair commercial practices of the providers. Such a sanction could have a negative impact on the provider and could discourage not only the business users but also the customers from using the provider’s platform. 3.2 Germany According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the enforcement of the P2B Regulation is ensured through civil law instruments (such as lawsuit lodged at the courts). Breaches of the P2B Regulation are considered to be the breaches of unfair competition law and a claimant (mainly a competitor) may ask for removal, injunctive relief, or damages. After the adoption of amendment to the Unfair Competition Act, the claimant may also be organisations, associations and public bodies that meet the requirements set in the Regulation (Art. 2 Act Amending the Telemedia Act and Other Acts of 19 November 2020). The enforcement of the P2B Regulation by the state authorities is seemingly not envisaged in Germany (The Scientific Services of the German Federal Parliament, 2020, p. 6). 3.3 Other selected Member States Like Germany, Finland also ensures the enforcement of the P2B Regulation by the courts and does not appoint a state authority in order to ensure administrative control. Finland has passed a new act and assigned jurisdiction on the Market Court to consider cases relating to the P2B Regulation. The Court may impose a general prohibition on using breaching practices and even a penalty on the provider. Individual private claims such as a claim for damages will be handled before a district court (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, 2020). On the contrary, like the Czech Republic, the Netherlands also intends to introduce administrative control. Pursuant to the draft bill, the existing Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets should enforce the P2B Regulation in the Netherlands. It will be able to impose binding compliance orders, orders subject

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