21st century
2000s
In June 2000, DG COMP blocked MCI Worldcom's USD 115 billion acquisition of Sprint Corporation in conjunction with the Department of Justice. [9] [10] It would have been the biggest deal of its kind ever up to that point. [11]
In July 2001, DG COMP prohibited GE from acquiring Honeywell for USD 42 billion due to dominant positions in several markets including jet engines. [12] Although they worked together during the investigation, their opinion once again diverged with the DOJ. [13] [14]
In January 2003, after the 2002 annulment by the Court of First Instance of a 2001 decision, the commission cleared Tetra Laval's acquisition of Sidel. [15] [16]
In 2003, DG COMP created a chief economist position directly under the director general to lead a team of 20 economists. Between 2003 and 2004, merger units for multiple sectors were integrated into antitrust teams. [6]
In June 2007, the commission prohibited Ryanair's takeover of Aer Lingus, a situation which would repeat itself in 2013. [17] [18] [19]
In June 2008, a settlement procedure was introduced for cartels with the aim of decreasing the duration and costs of investigations. [20] In November, Asahi, Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and Soliver were fined a record 1.3 billion euros for forming a car glass cartel. [21] [22] The General Court would later reduce Pilkington and Saint-Gobain's fines. [23]
In May 2009, Intel was fined 1.06 billion euros for anticompetitive practices in the central processing unit market. [24] The fine was overturned in court, and the commission proceeded to re-impose a downsized fine on the company. [25] [26]
DG COMP's fines on corporations climbed from 3.4 billion euros between 2000 and 2004 to 9.4 billion euros between 2005 and 2009. [27] The average fine increased from less than 20 million euros by more than a factor of 15 from 2000 to 2008. [4]
2010s
From 2010 to 2019, the commission imposed a total of 28.5 billion euros in cartel, antitrust, and merger fines. [28] During the same period, the DG Competition blocked nine out of 3,000 reviewed mergers. [29]
The following table lists the cartel fines exceeding 1 billion euros throughout the decade:
| Year | Institutions fined | Total fine (Euro) | Market | Fined parties | Exempted parties | References |
|---|
| 2012 | 7 | 1.47 billion | Cathode ray tube | LG Electronics, Philips, Samsung SDI, Panasonic, Toshiba, MTPD (a Panasonic subsidiary), Technicolor (formerly Thomson) | Chunghwa | [30] [31] |
| 2013 | 6 | 1.49 billion | Derivative (finance) | Deutsche Bank, RBS, Société Générale, Citigroup, JPMorgan, RP Martin | Barclays, UBS | [32] |
| 2016 | 4 | 2.9 billion | Truck | Daimler, Volvo/Renault, Iveco, DAF | MAN SE | [33] [34] |
| 2019 | 5 | 1.07 billion | Foreign exchange spot | Barclays, RBS, Citigroup, JPMorgan, MUFG | UBS | [35] |
In 2013, Aegean Airlines's rejected 2011 acquisition was approved due to Olympic Air's imminently anticipated financial decline due to Greece's economic conditions. [36] [37]
In May 2016, the commission prohibited Hutchison's 10.3 billion pound acquisition of O2. [38] [39] In July, four European truck manufacturers agreed to pay the commission a record 2.9 billion euros for "price increases, timing for the introduction of new emissions technologies and the passing on to customers of the costs for the emissions technologies." Daimler was fined the most, at 1 billion euros. MAN SE was exempted for revealing the cartel to authorities. [5] [33] Scania did not settle, and was fined a year later after further investigation by DG COMP. [40] Its fine was higher than those of Volvo/Renault, Iveco or DAF. [34] In August, the commission deemed that Ireland's 13 billion euros in tax benefits to Apple were illegal under EU law and had to be recovered. [41] [42]
In March 2017, the commission blocked a 21 billion pound merger between the European stock exchange operators Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange. [43] [44] In June, Google was fined 2.42 billion euros for illegally advantaging Google Shopping through its search engine. [45] [46]
In July 2018, the commission fined Google a record 4.34 billion euros for antitrust violations. These activities included manufacturer software pre-installation requirements, exclusive pre-installation payments, and unapproved Android fork prevention. [47] [48]
In February 2019, the commission prohibited Germany's Siemens from acquiring France's Alstom. [49] The decision drew criticism from France's Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. [50]
2020s
In September 2022, DG COMP prohibited genomics company Illumina from acquiring healthcare company Grail. Illumina's remedies were deemed insufficient and the company prematurely confirmed the acquisition before the EU's approval. [51] The FTC also blocked the acquisition, leading Illumina to divest in 2023. [52] The EU Court of Justice later ruled that the commission overstepped. [53]
In 2023, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager drew criticism for selecting Professor Fiona Scott Morton of Yale University, former chief economist of the Obama Administration, as Chief Competition Economist of DG COMP. Both her American nationality and consulting work for Big Tech came under fire by EU leaders, leading her to turn down the position. [54]
In March 2024, Apple was fined 1.8 billion euros for "anti-steering provisions" in relation to music subscriptions on the App Store. [55] Apple criticized the decision for benefiting Spotify, which held a majority market share in Europe. [56]
Following is a table categorizing the EU's merger interventions from December 2019 to October 2024: [57]
| Transaction Count | Status | Stage | Conditions |
|---|
| 41 | Approved | Phase 1 investigation | with remedies |
| 17 | Approved | Phase 2 investigation | with remedies |
| 3 | Approved | Phase 2 investigation | without remedies |
| 7 | Abandoned | during review | without Statement of Objections |
| 5 | Abandoned | during review | with Statement of Objections |
| 3 | Prohibited | | |
In September 2025, the commission fined Google 2.95 billion euros for "favouring its own online display advertising technology services." [58] [59]
