Not Just Because You Say So; EU General Court Guidance on
Proving Parallel Behaviour Is Not Independent
An EU General Court (GC) judgment has considered the difficult
issue of independent parallel behaviour by competitors under EU
competition law, and in particular when this strays into a
"concerted practice". This issue is important since an
illegal anticompetitive agreement (such as a cartel) can arise
under EU law not only when there is a true agreement or
understanding between parties, but also simply on the basis of a
"concerted practice".
The judgment, handed down on 12 April 2013, concerned an appeal
against a 2008 European Commission (EC) decision concerning 24
European collecting societies (which manage copyright relating to
musical and other works in individual countries). One part of the
decision found a concerted practice between the collecting
societies, under which each collecting society limited, in its
reciprocal representation agreements with other
