Action brought on 10 February 2004 by Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions Europe B.V., against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-48/04)

(2004/C 94/139)

Language of the case: English

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 10 February 2004 by Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions Europe B.V., Waalre, The Netherlands, represented by Dr G.Berrisch, lawyer and Mr D. Hull Solicitor.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments:

The applicant supplies throughout Europe a satellite-based truck fleet management system called EutelTRACS. It seeks the annulment of the Commission's decision of 30 April 2003 (1). With the contested decision, the Commission found the acquisition of joint control by DaimlerChrysler Services and Deutsche Telekom over a joint venture, Toll Collect GmbH, to be compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement.

The applicant states that Toll Collect was formed after a consortium of DaimlerChrysler Services, Deutsche Telekom AG, and Compagnie Financière et Industrielle des Autoroutes S.A. won a contract from the German government for the establishment and operation of a system for collecting tolls from heavy goods vehicles using German motorways. The contested decision did not deal with the toll collection activities of Toll Collect, but with the question of whether the partners could offer telematics services through Toll Collect. As submitted by the applicant, the Commission established that the partners would obtain a dominant position in the market for traffic telematics for transport and logistics undertakings, but concluded that the commitments offered would be sufficient.

In support of its application, the applicant submits that when finding that the commitments would be sufficient to prevent Toll Collect's on-board-unit from becoming the dominant platform for the provision of telematics services, the Commission committed a manifest error of appraisal, wrongly established the facts, and contradicted its own competitive assessment. According to the applicant, the commitments fail to remedy the competition concerns identified by the Commission, namely that Toll Collect's on-board-unit, which allows the provision of all core telematics services, is provided free of charge and that truck operators will not pay for alternative systems if they can obtain telematics services through Toll Collect's on-board-unit. The applicant furthermore claims that the contested decision is not supported by sufficient reasoning.

(1)  2003/792/EC: Commission Decision of 30 April 2003 declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.2903 - DaimlerChrysler/Deutsche Telekom/JV) (Text with EEA relevance.) (notified under document number C(2003) 1409) (OJ L 300, p. 62)