Stories
Stories from the data
Famous cases and doctrines of EU merger control, each told with the real data. The text is hand-picked. The timelines and figures under it are read from the coded decisions and court rulings, and they move when those do.
Coordinated effects · Airtours
When the courts raised the bar on coordinated effects
A prohibition annulled, then a clearance annulled, and a standard of proof rewritten.
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Non-coordinated effects · CK Telecoms
The 4-to-3 that redrew the standard of proof
A prohibition annulled, then the annulment itself set aside. The bar for oligopoly mergers moved twice.
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Conglomerate effects · Tetra Laval
Tetra Laval: how far a conglomerate theory can reach
A prohibition on a leveraging theory, struck down. The annulment held on appeal, and the evidentiary bar was set.
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Merger jurisdiction · Illumina/Grail
The deal the Commission blocked, then had to let go
A below-threshold merger, prohibited and ordered unwound, until the Court of Justice found the Commission never had the power to review it.
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Judicial review · corpus
Do the Commission's merger decisions survive on appeal?
Across the appealed subset the Commission usually wins, but the losses are landmarks.
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