Antitrust authorities remained highly active in 2020, despite the pandemic reducing overall global M&A, according to our latest annual survey of global merger control enforcement trends across 26 jurisdictions....more
The UK Government commissioned John Penrose MP to undertake an independent review of UK competition policy last September. Penrose was specifically tasked with looking at potential reforms to the UK’s competition regime in...more
Since the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its Digital Markets Strategy in 2019 it has completed many of the priority tasks it had assigned itself – including conducting a market study on online...more
Since the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its Digital Markets Strategy in 2019 (see our alert on its 2019 priorities) it has completed many of the priority tasks it had assigned itself – including...more
The end of the Brexit transition period at 11pm on 31 December 2020 gives rise to significant changes to the application of antitrust and merger control rules in the UK.
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The European Commission (EC) has published its draft Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will introduce broad reforms to the application of EU competition law to ‘gatekeepers’ in the digital sector. The proposals set out...more
The UK government has finally delivered on its promise to tighten the scrutiny of transactions on national security grounds....more
The table below sets out an overview, based on our current awareness of the position as regards foreign investment control, of the different approaches being taken by authorities around the world in response to the Covid-19...more
The table below sets out an overview, based on our current awareness of the position as regards foreign investment control, of the different approaches being taken by authorities around the world in response to the Covid-19...more
On 11 November 2020 the UK Government published its groundbreaking National Security and Investment Bill (Bill). The Bill will drastically expand the Government’s powers to scrutinise investment on national security grounds,...more
Hot on the heels of the publication of draft merger guidelines on procedure, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released proposed revised draft guidelines on its substantive competition assessment of...more
The table below sets out an overview, based on our current awareness of the position as regards foreign investment control, of the different approaches being taken by authorities around the world in response to the Covid-19...more
On 11 November 2020 the UK Government published its groundbreaking National Security and Investment Bill (Bill). The Bill will drastically expand the Government’s powers to scrutinise investment on national security grounds,...more
11/12/2020
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Regulatory Reform ,
UK
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM)’s Wholesale Fixed Access decision in the telecoms sector is the first Dutch market analysis based on a theory of joint dominance. The highest Dutch court for these...more
The UK has well-established domestic antitrust and merger control regimes, enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
As an EU Member State, however, where a deal met EU merger control thresholds the CMA – in...more
The UK’s competition authority has stepped up its enforcement of procedural breaches of merger control rules in the past 12 months. This is part of a global trend that has seen enforcement fines exceed EUR140 million globally...more
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a document setting out its digital markets strategy and, in parallel, has launched a market study into online platforms and digital advertising. These developments...more
The European Commission (Commission) has the power to order companies suspected of engaging in anti-competitive behaviour to stop their conduct pending a final decision in an investigation – so-called “interim measures”. The...more
On 3 June the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published an independent report it had commissioned by Lear (an economics consultancy) aimed at evaluating past merger decisions in the digital sector taken by the...more
On 4 April the European Commission published an expert report on how competition policy should evolve in the digital era.
The report, titled “Competition Policy for the Digital Era”, has been prepared by a panel of three...more
The Senior Director for Antitrust Enforcement of the Competition and Markets Authority, Ann Pope, gave a speech in late 2018 on its competition enforcement work to date and what lies ahead.
Ms Pope discussed the increase in...more
On 13 March the UK Government published a report by an expert panel established by the Chancellor and led by Harvard economist and former White House economic adviser, Jason Furman, on reforms to competition rules and...more
On 25 February the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its preliminary proposals for legislative and institutional reforms to competition and consumer protection law and policy. The proposals if implemented have...more
The European Parliament approved on 14 February 2019 a new Regulation, aimed at harmonizing and coordinating the various national foreign investment screening mechanisms across the economic bloc. The Regulation does not...more
The proliferation of merger control regimes around the world – and the resulting need to consider potential notification requirements in multiple jurisdictions – poses an increasing burden for businesses seeking to make...more