The Court of Justice of the European Union rejects Fakro's appeal against the European Commission
The judgement conclusively ends more than a decade of unfounded complaints by Fakro to EU authorities concerning the VELUX Group.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued the final judgement on June 30, 2022. It rejects as unfounded Fakro’s claim, that the EU Commission’s acquittal of VELUX was flawed and thus upholds a similar ruling by the General Court. Read more on CJEU's website here (in French).
Background
During the last 16 years, Fakro has made several complaints about the commercial practices of VELUX, which have been repeatedly investigated by European competition authorities. The European Commission (EC) dismissed the first complaint as unfounded in 2009. Another complaint was filed by Fakro in 2012. After yet another thorough investigation, the EC once again dismissed that complaint in 2018. Read more about it here and the entire ruling here. It was this decision that Fakro challenged and which the CJEU has now formally and conclusively rejected.
I’m pleased that we now have a very clear ruling in our favour, which is also what we expected. The CJEU has now conclusively confirmed that the EU Commission handled Fakro´s complaint correctly and that its decision to reject Fakro’s countless allegations against VELUX was unflawed. Now, we can put this behind us and continue focusing on running our business and serving our customers,
In its ruling, the EU Court of Justice stated that:
- "In the judgement under appeal, the General Court dismissed all these claims and consequently dismissed the action in its entirety." (paragraph 22)
- Referring to the individual pleas, the General Court unequivocally states in several places (paragraph 58, paragraph 78, paragraph 81) that "Fakro's arguments must therefore be dismissed as unfounded."
- Furthermore, in paragraph 70 the court states that "This argument of Fakro, which is based on an erroneous reading of the judgment under appeal, has no merit."
The entire ruling, with detailed reasoning and reference to Fakro's individual pleas, as well as a presentation of the circumstances of the case and the history of the dispute, can be found here (in French).
About the VELUX Group
For more than 80 years, the VELUX Group has created better living environments for people around the world; making the most of daylight and fresh air through the roof. Our product programme includes roof windows and modular skylights, decorative blinds, sun screening products and roller shutters, as well as installation and smart home solutions. These products help to ensure a healthy and sustainable indoor climate, for work and learning, for play and pleasure. We work globally – with sales and manufacturing operations in more than 36 countries and around 11,000 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company wholly owned by non-profit, charitable foundations (THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS) and family. In 2022, the VELUX Group had total revenue of EUR 2.99 billion, VKR Holding had total revenue of EUR 4.29 billion, and THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS donated EUR 181 million in charitable grants.
For more information about VELUX Group, visit velux.com.