European Court of Justice – Court of First Instance upholds fine imposed on Deutsche Telekom for abuse of dominant position.
In 2003 the Commission of the European Communities – the executive branch of the European Union – found that Deutsche Telekom “had been abusing its dominant position on the markets for direct access to its fixed telephone network.” Deutsche Telekom, a German-based former state-owned monopoly, is the largest telecommunications company in Europe. The Court of First Instance rejected the company’s legal objections to a EUR 12.6 million fine imposed by the Commission. The Court also noted that the Commission’s authority to find infringements of competition law is not abrogated by decisions made by national authorities. For more information, please click here.