Midnight on July 3, 2023, heralded the deadline for potential gatekeepers to notify the European Commission (EC) as to whether they meet the thresholds for gatekeepers set out in Article 3 of the Digital Markets Act (DMA)....more
In a landmark judgment issued on July 4, 2023, the European top court, the Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled that competition authorities in the EU can consider a company’s compliance with the EU’s data protection rules when...more
7/7/2023
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Personal Data
The "European Antitrust Bimonthly Bulletin" (EABB) breaks down the major antitrust developments in Europe in the past two months into concise and actionable takeaways....more
Overview of EU “Fit for 55” The European Union (EU) recently enacted five laws in furtherance of its “Fit for 55” legislative package, which aims to ensure that EU policies are in line with EU’s climate targets of reducing...more
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) entered into force on January 5, 2023. The CSRD significantly broadens the existing EU regime for non-financial disclosure requirements currently governed by...more
Starting July 12, 2023, the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) will give the European Commission (EC) powers to review subsidies from non-EU states to companies active in the EU. Its aim is to complement the EU’s...more
The European Commission (EC) ended the year 2022 by making significant progress in its pending antitrust investigations against two of the largest digital platforms....more
1/5/2023
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Data Collection ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
European Commission ,
Personal Data
On December 9, 2022, the European Commission (EC) published its draft Digital Markets Act (DMA) Implementing Regulation, which will be open for public comment until January 6, 2023. The package is designed to give guidance on...more
Over the past year, U.S. legislators and state attorneys general (AGs) have raised concerns that collaborations among firms to achieve environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals are violations of the antitrust laws. As...more
On September 20, 2022, an adviser to the EU’s top court opined that competition authorities may consider a company’s compliance with the EU’s data protection rules as part of an abuse of dominance investigation....more
11/11/2022
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
On October 12, 2022, the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, giving clarity as to when the new rules will apply. The DMA will enter into force on November 1, 2022, and it...more
On July 18, 2022, the long-awaited Digital Markets Act (DMA) received the final approval of the EU's co-legislators. The DMA will impose stringent far-reaching obligations on the largest digital platforms: the "gatekeepers."...more
7/21/2022
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Digital Platforms ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Technology Sector
In anticipation of its new powers to regulate the largest digital platforms, the EU is planning to open a San Francisco base to engage with these companies, which are based mostly in Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area....more
The European Union (EU) will soon be handed sweeping new rules to regulate the conduct of the largest digital platforms with the long-awaited Digital Markets Act (DMA). Following 15 months of intense negotiations on...more
3/31/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Popular ,
Targeted Digital Advertising ,
Technology Sector
The EU Parliament and the EU Council recently adopted their respective versions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), which intend to create new antitrust-related (DMA) and regulatory (DSA) rules...more
The European Commission (EC) has published new guidance on the application of Article 22 of the European Merger Regulation (EUMR) which will allow for the EC and Member States to refer transactions that do not meet existing...more
On December 15, 2020, the European Commission (EC) unveiled a set of proposals to regulate digital platforms. The draft laws include antitrust-related requirements, addressed by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and more general...more
In the field of antitrust, the current COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges for merging parties and agencies worldwide. As the crisis unfolds, enforcement against cartels, investigations of excessive pricing, and...more
3/23/2020
/ Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Collaboration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Filing ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Excessive Pricing ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
France ,
Germany ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
UK
With Brexit now just a few days away, deal makers are brushing up their knowledge of the UK's merger control regime. One notable feature of the system in the UK is the strict stance that the Competition and Markets Authority...more
1/22/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Interim Measures ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Strict Compliance ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
As merger reviews become more thorough and document-intensive, companies planning to engage in global M&A deals in 2018 should factor potentially lengthier merger reviews by the European Commission (EC) into their deal...more