European Commission Intervenes In Belgian Bpost Case To Suggest A Preliminary Reference

On 23 August 2017, it was made public that the European Commission will request the Belgian Supreme Court ("Cour de cassation"/ "Hof van cassatie") to lodge with the Court of Justice of the European Union ("ECJ") a request for a preliminary ruling on the issue of whether distinct fines imposed by both a postal regulatory authority and a competition authority for the same facts can amount to double jeopardy contrary to the "ne bis in idem" principle.

This is an interesting development in a long-standing legal battle between bpost, the Belgian incumbent postal company, and the Belgian Competition Authority (Belgische Mededingingsautoriteit / Autorité belge de la concurrence) ("BCA") concerning the impact of bpost's quantitative rebate scheme on so-called "consolidators", i.e., intermediaries offering postal services such as preparing, processing and transporting mail to bpost's distribution points.