The EU General Court Gets A Rap On Its Knuckles

In Groupement des cartes bancaires, the EU Court of Justice severely reprimanded the General Court for its failure to properly analyze a restriction of competition 'by object' within the meaning of Article 101(1) TFEU.

Brief Background to the Dispute

Groupement des cartes bancaires is a French association of banking institutions, which was set up to achieve interoperability of the systems for payment and cash withdrawal by bank cards issued by its members. In December 2002, it notified to the Commission a series of new rules, including a series of pricing measures to regulate the so-called 'acquiring' function.¹ In October 2007, the Commission adopted a Decision, which was confirmed on appeal by the General Court, in which it took the view that the measures at issue constituted an infringement 'by object'. On appeal to the Court of Justice, the Groupement des cartes bancaires alleged serious errors in law in the application of the concept of restriction of