Memo: Competition: Commission welcomes European Court of Justice judgment in the Virgin/British Airways case

The European Commission welcomes the 15 March 2007 judgment by the European Court of Justice definitely dismissing British Airways' claims against the Commission's decision of July 1999 imposing on it a fine as a result of abusive conduct (case C-95/04 P). The ECJ confirms that the bonus schemes (including the so-called 'performance reward schemes') used by British Airways to calculate travel agents' commissions constitute an abuse of dominant position in violation of Article 82 of the EC Treaty and keeps the level of the fine unchanged at €6.8 million. The judgment confirms the application of an approach under European competition law based on the effects on the market(s) of the conduct in question.