Ban for national authorities on declaring that a company does not infringe competition law, Tele2 Polska, C-375/09

The ECJ prohibited national authorities to declare that a company accused of violating competition law (abuse of dominant position) does not breach it in case Tele2 Polska sp.z o.o., C-375/09. The only option that national competition authorities have if everything is fine according to them is to conclude that there are “no grounds for action”, since:

1) Article 5 of the Council Regulation 1/2003 on the implementation of competition rules does not preview an option of acquittal by national authorities (§§ 21-22);
2) such a step of national authorities would violate the general principle of sincere cooperation with the European Commission (§§ 26-27).

The judgment is related to the dispute between telecommunication companies Tele2 Polska sp.z o.o. and Telekomunikacja Polska SA was produced by 11 judges chamber. Poland, the Czech Republic, the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority submitted their observations.