2025: a year of action for the Autorité de la concurrence
In 2025, the Autorité de la concurrence issued 8 antitrust decisions and imposed €379 million in fines. The key decisions of the year included Decision 25-D-02 sanctioning Apple for abusing its dominant position in the sector for mobile application advertising on iOS terminals (€150 million), Decision 25-D-03 sanctioning no-poach agreements (€29.5 million), Decision 25-D-06 sanctioning Doctolib for abusing its dominant position in the sectors for online appointment booking and remote consultations (€4.7 million), and Decision 25-D-07 sanctioning an anticompetitive agreement in the road fuel distribution sector in Corsica (€187.4 million).
In merger control, the Autorité issued a record number of decisions (328 transactions), up 11% on the previous record in 2024 and representing a total transaction value of more than €31 billion. 2025 was once again marked by the transformation of the food retail sector, with the Autorité clearing a number of transactions (involving more than 600 stores in total), including: the acquisition of Casino stores by Auchan (25-DCC-65), the acquisition of Auchan stores by Lidl (25-DCC-214), the acquisition of Cora and Match stores by Carrefour (25-DCC-56), and the acquisition of Bio&Co stores by Marcel&Fils (25-DCC-222). No transactions were prohibited and no in-depth Phase 2 examinations were opened.
During the year, the Autorité was very active in its advisory role, issuing 17 opinions. In addition to specific opinions on lawyers to the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) (25-A-06) and commissioners of justice (25-A-17), the Autorité issued an opinion on the 2015 reform of the freedom of establishment and regulated rates for certain legal professions (25-A-09). At the request of the French government, parliamentary committees and other independent administrative authorities, the Autorité also examined a number of sectors, including veterinary medicines (25-A-12), local and regional public authority property insurance (25-A-04), wood fuel pellets (25-A-13), and agricultural equipment (25-A-15). Moreover, the Autorité decided at its own initiative (ex officio) to analyse emerging and structing sectors, such as consumer product and service rating systems (25-A-01) and the energy and environmental impact of artificial intelligence (report of 17 December 2025).