Good things don't always come in small packages for the European Commission: Advocate General Kokott

Good things don't always come in small packages for the European Commission: Advocate General Kokott delivers her Opinion on the blocked UPS/TNT deal - JDSupra

On 25 July 2018, Advocate General Kokott proposed that the EU Court of Justice validate the annulment by the EU General Court of the European Commission’s 2013 prohibition decision of UPS's planned acquisition of its logistics rival, TNT. In particular, Advocate General Kokott has confirmed in her (non-binding) opinion that the General Court was justified in censuring the Commission and, in turn, quashing the prohibition decision, on account of a fatal procedural error committed by the Commission during its phase II administrative review.

In the event that the Court of Justice follows Advocate General Kokott's views (and thus confirms the General Court's findings), this would be an extremely rare instance of the EU Courts overturning a decision of the Commission to block a deal. It would also act as a strong (and possibly costly) reminder to the Commission of the importance of respecting procedural safeguards – 'procedural guarantees' which, Advocate General Kokott reminds us, cannot be compromised despite the understandable "desire to incorporate more economic expertise into the assessment of competition cases".