The Court of Appeal has dismissed Ryanair DAC and Ryanair Holdings plc’s appeal against an order setting aside service of their proceedings on Italy’s competition authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM). It held that the Irish courts lacked jurisdiction over Ryanair’s claims against the authority under the EU rules on civil and commercial matters.
The dispute arose from an AGCM investigation opened in September 2023 into complaints that Ryanair was hindering online and offline travel agencies from selling its flights in Italy. Ryanair disputes that it holds a dominant position in the relevant market and denies wrongdoing.
In January 2024, the AGCM asked Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) for investigative assistance. The following March, the CCPC obtained a District Court warrant to search Ryanair’s offices at Airside Business Park in Swords. CCPC officers carried out the search, accompanied by six AGCM officers who had been appointed as CCPC authorised officers for a limited period. The material identified as relevant to the Italian investigation was handed to the AGCM officers, who took it to Italy.
Ryanair’s Irish proceedings sought to quash the warrant and obtain declarations, injunctions, return of the seized material and damages. The company alleged, among other things, that the search was unjustified and that material had been seized improperly. Those complaints were not decided on their merits in this appeal.
The High Court set aside service of the summons on the AGCM and dismissed the proceedings against it for want of jurisdiction. Ryanair appealed. The Court of Appeal said the question was whether the claims concerned “civil or commercial matters” under Regulation 1215/2012, or instead arose from the exercise of state authority, which the regulation does not cover.
Delivering the judgment on 31 January 2025, Mr Justice Allen said the relevant acts were the AGCM’s decision to investigate and its request for assistance from the CCPC. Those were exercises of public powers unavailable to private parties. The Irish search itself was conducted under Irish statutory powers and a District Court warrant. The court said the fact that events occurred in Dublin, or that Ryanair sought remedies also available in private law, did not establish jurisdiction over the claims against the AGCM.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and affirmed the High Court order setting aside service. It also refused to refer questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The judgment records that the AGCM was presumptively entitled to its appeal costs; Ryanair was given 14 days to file submissions seeking a different costs order, with a further 14 days for the AGCM to respond.