Individualism of proceedings for breach of antitrust law

#09Individualism of proceedings for breach of antitrust law

The Commission found Slovak Telekom liable for abuse of a dominant position on the market for certain telecommunications services. Based on judgment in Case C-857/19, it was in accordance with the relevant law when the said company has been also subject to sanctions imposed by the Slovak authorities for such abuse on the market for other telecommunications services.

First, in 2007, Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic adopted a decision finding that Slovak Telekom had abused its authoritative position on the Slovak telecommunications market. Then, in 2009, The Commission initiated proceedings against Slovak Telekom for alleged misuses of a dominant position on the Slovak market. Following the aforementioned, there have been two individual proceedings regarding the identical breaches of antitrust law.

The Supreme Court of the Slovak republic while deciding whether there has been a breach of ne bid in idem principle (not twice in the same matter) submitted questions to the Court of justice concerning the principle of prohibition of prosecution and punishment for the same cause of action. The Court noted that it appears that the proceedings conducted by the Commission and Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic were based in separate breached, therefore, Slovak Telekom could be sanctioned by the Slovak competition authority, even if the EU's regulatory bodies had sanctioned it as well.