The General Court annuls the fine of approximately €1 bn imposed on Qualcomm | Photo credits: jejim / Shutterstock.com
by Foo Yun Chee
LUXEMBOURG, June 15 (Reuters) – The General Court of the European Union (EU), the second highest court in Europe, on Wednesday overturned the 997 million euro fine imposed on Qualcomm four years ago by the European Commission for securing the exclusive supply of Apple chips.
In 2018, the Commission imposed this heavy fine on the semiconductor manufacturer “for abuse of a dominant position in the market for LTE baseband chipsets”, accusing it of having paid billions of dollars to Apple for several years for that it does not source chips from its competitors, such as Intel
The Court “finds that several procedural irregularities have affected Qualcomm’s rights of defense and invalidates the analysis carried out by the Commission of the behavior alleged against this company”, he announced in a press release.
The European competition authority can appeal on questions of law to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). (Reportage Foo Yun Chee, with Charlotte Van Campenhout, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Kate Entringer)