International Antitrust Law & Policy: Fordham Corporate Law 1997 - Hardcover
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Chapter 19
MEDIA UNDER FRENCH COMPETITION
LAW
Frédéric JennyH
I. INTRODUCTION
During the nearly eleven years since its creation, the Conseil de la
Concurrence has delivered more than 50 decisions or opinions dealing with
competition issues in the media sector. This sector has thus been the object of
close scrutiny by the French competition authority.
The Conseil de la Concurrence, established by the Ordinance of December
1986 on the freedom of prices and competition, is entrusted with the task of
investigating and adjudicating cases dealing with practices that have the
object or may have the effect of restraining competition (these include
anticompetitive cartels and concerted actions prohibited by article 7 of the
Ordinance, anticompetitive abuses of dominant positions prohibited by
paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Ordinance, and anticompetitive abuses of
dependency (abuses of negotiating power) prohibited by the second
paragraph of Article 8 of the Ordinance). Article 10 of the Ordinance,
however, provides for two types of exemptions for anticompetitive practices.
First, a legal exemption when a law prescribes the anticompetitive practice.
Second, an economic exemption when the authors of the anticompetitive
practices can show that these practices led to economic progress that could
not have been obtained otherwise and that this benefit was passed on to
consumers.
H. Professor of Economics, ESSEC, Paris; Vice Chairman, Conseil de la Concurrence,
Paris.
In the merger control area, the Conseil de la Concurrence merely has an
advisory function. Mergers are controllable if the merging firms meet either a
market share threshold (25% of a relevant domestic market) or a size
threshold (7 billion Francs aggregate turnover for the merging firms provided
that two of the merging parties have an individual turnover of at least two
billion Francs). The Minister of Economic Affairs and the Minister in charge
of the relevant economic sector can decide to block a merger or to impose
Professor of Economics, ESSEC, Paris; Vice Chairman, Conseil de la Concurrence,
Paris.