Corporate & Securities Law

EC Raids Intel and Retailers

By David Fischer

Yesterday, EC competition authorities “raided” the European offices of Intel and several electronics retailers.  According to the Financial Times:

European Commission officials visited Intel’s Munich offices, as well as Europe’s biggest electronics chain, Media Markt, its second-biggest, DSG International, operator of the UK’s PC World, and French retailer PPR.

“The Commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EC treaty rules on restrictive business practices and/or abuse of a dominant market position,” the regulator said.

It stressed that the raids did not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.

Intel, Media Markt, PPR and DSG confirmed the visits and said they were co-operating with the investigation.

The Commission’s move comes at an unusual stage in its long-running probe into Intel, which began nearly seven years ago after a complaint from the US company’s smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices.

Having carried out raids in 2005, the Commission formally accused Intel six months ago of trying to do deals with computer makers to push AMD out of the central processing unit business.

The latest raids appear to be focused primarily on Intel’s relationships with retailers, rather than computer makers, suggesting that the Commission may be enlarging the scope of its inquiry.

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).