Facts
On 17 September 1998, Meteotest, a private provider of meteorological services, approached the Competition Commission and requested the opening of an investigation and the ordering of precautionary measures against the Swiss Meteorological Institute (SMA). By order of 16 November 1998, the Competition Commission obliged the SMA to make meteorological basic services available to third parties on the same terms as its own extended services.
On 6 September 1999, the Competition Commission issued a decision in which it found that the SMA had a dominant market position in the international markets for weather observation data, climate data and radar images for Switzerland, and that the SMA's offer to Meteotest of 27 July 1998 constituted an inadmissible discrimination against trading partners. The Commission obliged the SMA to make meteorological data and products available to third parties on the same terms as its own extended services.
The SMA appealed against this decision to the Appeals Commission for Competition Matters on 11 October 1999. On 15 August 2000, the Appeals Commission upheld the appeal and set aside the Competition Commission's decision. It justified this by stating that the contested decision appeared to be outdated due to the change in the facts and the legal situation resulting from the entry into force of the new Federal Act on Meteorology and Climatology on 1 April 2000.
Considerations
The Federal Court upholds the administrative appeal of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs. It concludes that the Swiss Meteorological Institute or MeteoSwiss as a federal office of the central administration was not legitimized to appeal against the decision of the Competition Commission.
Furthermore, the Federal Court states that the Cartel Act was not applicable to the Swiss Meteorological…