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ARTICLE · 03 DECEMBER 2024

Happy 24th Birthday: CJEU's Intel Judgment Bursts Commission's Balloon

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The CJEU's ruling in European Commission v Intel on 24 October 2024 upheld the General Court's annulment of Intel's €1.06bn fine for loyalty rebates, stating that the Commission failed to prove the rebates' exclusionary effects. The judgment clarified that to establish an abuse of dominance, the Commission must demonstrate that conduct, such as loyalty rebates, had actual or potential anti-competitive effects on equally efficient competitors. The ruling also rejected the Commission's presumpti

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Greg Dowell
Greg Dowell
Balint Egri
Balint Egri
Emma Radcliffe
Emma Radcliffe
Tyla Coertzen
Tyla Coertzen

On 24 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its highly anticipated judgment in European Commission v Intel, bringing to an end the long-running saga on the lawfulness of Intel's loyalty inducing rebates.In this article, we set out a summary of the proceedings leading up to the CJEU's latest ruling, the key points from the judgment, and their implications for future enforcement.

In 2009, the European Commission fined Intel €1.06 bn (the highest penalty imposed on a single company at the time) for abusing its dominant position in the market for personal computer processors through the use of loyalty rebates and certain other practices aimed at excluding competitors' products.

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