Court of First Instance Upholds Prohibition of General Electric/Honeywell

Shaun Goodman, Apr 01, 2006

On December 14, 2005, the European Court of First Instance (CFI) upheld the European Commission’s 2001 prohibition of a proposed merger between General Electric (GE) and Honeywell (the Decision). The Decision’s partial reliance on conglomerate effects theories had been controversial at the time, and the Commission was criticised in strong terms by U.S. regulators that had approved the transaction. Following a recent series of judicial reversals of EC merger prohibition decisions, the CFI’s confirmation of the Decision must have come as a relief to the Commission.