ISU's appeal against EU antitrust decision should be reviewed again by lower tribunal, court adviser says

BRUSSELS : Europe's top court should refer an appeal by the International Skating Union (ISU) back to a lower tribunal which two years ago backed an EU finding that its punitive penalties against athletes breach EU antitrust rules, a court adviser said on Thursday.

"The judgment of the General Court which had confirmed the anticompetitive nature of rules of the International Skating Union should be set aside," Advocate General Athanasios Rantos at the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), Europe's highest, said.

He proposed that the case be referred back to the General Court.

The European Commission in its 2020 ruling ordered the sport's governing body to scrap 'disproportionately punitive' penalties on athletes who take part in new money-spinning events.

The case is C-124/21 P International Skating Union v Commission.