On 5 January, the full text of a decision of the General Court in the appeal of British Airways plc against the European Commission on the airfreight cartel was published.[1] The European Commission fined British Airways in 2010 for its role in the airfreight cartel, but the General Court annulled this part of the Commission’s decision in 2015. British Airways received back the amount paid as a fine plus a ‘guaranteed return’. According to British Airways, it has also the right to receive an amount for default interest of more than EUR 21 million and compound interest. The Commission rejected this request in a first letter and confirmed its rejection in a second letter. British Airways requested to annul this decision, but now the Gereral Court decided that the application for its annulment was too late. It did not follow British Airways’ arguments that the limitation period started at the date of the second letter, since the second letter was only a confirmation of the first. The applicable for annulment is therefore found inadmissible.

[1] General Court 22 December 2022, ECLI:EU:T;2022:863 (British Airways/European Commission).