European Commission backs out of battle over Qualcomm’s £862m fine
In a further setback for EU regulators, European Commission will not be appealing the decision to overturn a €997m (£862m) fine placed on US chipmaker Qualcomm.
According to initial reports from Reuters, the regulators will not be pushing forward with an appeal, with sources suggesting that it would be too difficult to convince the General Court in favour.
The fine was imposed by European Commission after the US firm paid billions of dollars to Apple to use only Qualcomm chips in all its iPhones and iPads: hindering rivals like Intel Corp from 2011 to 2016 .
In a continuing blow to Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager’s emerging regime, Europe’s second-highest court annulled the 2018 finding and questioned its handling of the case on a process level.
“The Commission did not provide an analysis which makes it possible to support the findings that the payments concerned had actually reduced Apple’s incentives to switch to Qualcomm’s competitors,” the General Court said back in June.
At the time, a spokesperson for the European Commission said: “The European Commission takes note of today’s judgement by the General Court that annulled the Commission’s 2018 Decision which found that Qualcomm had abused its dominant position.”
“The Commission will carefully study the judgement and its implications and will reflect on possible next steps”.
The European Commission declined to comment on the rumours, and Qualcomm were not immediately available for comment this afternoon on the new reports.
It is understood that the deadline for the Commission to appeal the decision has not yet expired.
However, the decision wasn’t the first time that Vestager’s rage against US dominance has been tempered.
Back in January, Intel won its own appeal against a hefty €1bn fine handed to the company 12 years ago. The court criticised the analysis made by the Commission on this specific case.