In a landmark decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has limited the European Commission’s (EC) ability to review mergers that fall outside thresholds at the EC level and in the Member States seeking to refer the...more
9/6/2024
/ Competition Authorities ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Jurisdictional Thresholds ,
Member State ,
Merger Controls ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Threshold Requirements
On July 23, the European Commission, US Department of Justice, US Federal Trade Commission, and UK Competition and Markets Authority released a joint statement setting out shared principles on competition in markets that...more
7/26/2024
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Innovative Technology ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
Machine Learning ,
Personal Data ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
In this blog post, we will focus on the identification of “high-risk AI systems” under the Artificial Intelligence Act (“AI Act”) and the requirements applying to such systems. As explained in our previous blog posts, the AI...more
The EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 12, 2024, as “Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down...more
This blog post focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) practices prohibited under the EU AI Act. Article 5 of the AI Act essentially prohibits AI practices that materially distort peoples’ behavior or that raise serious...more
On March 13, 2024, the European Parliament adopted the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). It is considered to be the world’s first comprehensive horizontal legal framework for AI. It provides for EU-wide rules on data...more
3/15/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Parliament ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Machine Learning ,
Member State ,
New Legislation ,
OECD ,
Risk Assessment ,
Technology Sector
On February 8, 2024, the European Commission (Commission) adopted its revised Market Definition Notice (Notice), replacing a version that was nearly 30 years old. The Notice is not binding, but it provides guidance on how the...more
On December 8, representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union (EU) reached political agreement on the shape and contents of the EU’s AI Act (the “Act”), setting...more
On November 9, 2023, the European Parliament adopted the EU Data Act, a new regulation providing harmonized rules on access to data, switching cloud providers and interoperability requirements across the EU. It is widely...more
11/16/2023
/ Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) ,
Connected Entities ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data-Sharing ,
Digital Single Market ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
European Commission ,
European Parliament ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Member State ,
New Legislation ,
Personal Data ,
Transparency
On October 12, 2023, the European Commission (EC) ordered Illumina to unwind its already completed acquisition of the cancer-test provider GRAIL Inc. This is the first time that the EC has ordered a reversal of an...more
On September 25, 2023, the European Commission (EC) blocked the proposed acquisition by Booking Holdings, Inc. of Flugo Group Holdings AB (eTraveli). This is the EC’s first prohibition of a transaction this year and its...more
The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) was adopted in late 2022. Its stated aim is to combat the effects of competitive distortions caused by foreign subsidies in the EU internal market and thereby level the playing...more
8/9/2023
/ Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Member State ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Regulations ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
State Aid ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Threshold Requirements
On June 1, 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted revised Horizontal Guidelines (HGs) and two updated block exemption regulations (BERs) on research and development (R&D) and “specialisation” agreements. These materials...more
7/31/2023
/ Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Guidance Update ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Joint Venture ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Research and Development ,
Safe Harbors ,
Sustainability ,
V-BER (Vertical Block Exemption Regulation)
On July 10, 2023, the European Commission adopted its long-awaited adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“Adequacy Decision”). This ends a three-year journey to set up a successor to the EU-U.S. Privacy...more
7/12/2023
/ Adequacy Requirement ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
European Commission ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Iceland ,
International Data Transfers ,
Liechtenstein ,
Member State ,
Norway ,
Personal Data ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On February 6, 2023, the European Commission (EC) published a draft Implementing Regulation (the Implementing Regulation) setting out rules and procedures for the application of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR)....more
On November 28, 2022, the Council of the European Union (Council) gave its final approval to the proposed Regulation on Foreign Subsidies (Regulation), concluding seven months of negotiations with the EU Parliament. Under...more
On January 26, the General Court (GC) of the European Union issued a judgment on remand, annulling the €1.06 billion fine that the European Commission (EC) had imposed on Intel in 2009.
Companies commonly use rebates to...more
2/7/2022
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Burden of Proof ,
Competition ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Final Judgment ,
Intel ,
Rebates ,
Remand ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
On April 8, 2020 the European Commission (the ‘EC’) published a temporary antitrust framework for assessing business cooperation to ensure the supply of “essential scarce products and services” during the COVID-19 outbreak...more
In the week following the adoption of the Temporary Framework for EU State aid measures to counter the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 19, 2020,1 the European Commission (the ‘EC’) has approved twenty-one...more
The COVID-19 crisis is first and foremost a health issue, as governments around the world seek to limit and treat its effects and save lives. However, it is also an immediate economic and social issue, as companies and...more
“Geo-blocking” is the practice whereby traders operating in a country block or limit access to their online interfaces, such as websites or apps, by customers from other countries wishing to engage in cross-border...more
12/4/2018
/ Cross-Border Transactions ,
Digital Single Market ,
E-Commerce ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Geo-Blocking ,
Internet Retailers ,
Member State ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Terms and Conditions ,
UK Brexit