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On 23 May, the European Commission published its Written Observations submitted under Article 15(3) of Regulation 1/2003 in the Appeals in the English Court of Appeal against the 3 first instance Judgments dealing with the claims against MasterCard and Visa for recovery of multilateral interchange fees (MIFs).
Article 15(3) provides that the Commission may, acting on its own initiative, submit written observations to national courts where the coherent application of Articles 101/102 so require. The Commission may also make oral observations with the permission of the court in question.
Given the significance of the UK Appeals in the context of the competition law analysis of MIFs, the Commission made Written Observations on the Article 101(1) issues (attached here) and the Article 101(3) issues (attached here). The Commission also made oral submissions, with the Court’s permission, on both topics at the hearing of the Appeals.
Ronit Kreisberger acted as Joint Lead Counsel with Nicholas Khan QC for the European Commission.