A case against the Competition Council

Our Regulatory and Antitrust team has successfully represented our client large biofuel supplier before the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SAC) against Competition Council.

The SAC has agreed with the grounds of appeal, annulled the judgement of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, decision of the Competition Council and returned the case for a re-examine to the Competition Council.

Our client was fined by the Competition Council due to an alleged vertical exclusive agreement for the purchase of biofuels, which had a restrictive effect on competition.

The SAC contradicted the Competition Council’s decision and established that the Competition Council incorrectly defined geographic market, therefore it must to redefine the geographic market, to determine the possibility of applying the block exemption, to objectively evaluate and correctly calculate the size of possible market foreclosure. The SAC has obliged the Competition Council to reconsider the extent of the caused effect on competition (if any).