On 19 November 2024, the Council of the European Union formally adopted the new ESG Ratings Regulation (the “Regulation”), following a proposal from the European Commission on 13 June 2023 and an agreement with the European...more
At the end of 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) signed the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which both parties then ratified in 2021. As to antitrust cooperation, the agreement emphasized...more
11/14/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Member State ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
OECD ,
Trade Agreements ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
As already outlined in last year’s overview, since the enactment of EU Directive 2014/104 (‘Damages Directive’), private enforcement of EU competition law in the EU has continued to develop at an impressive pace. Putting...more
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
In conjunction with the Group of Seven (G7) leaders meeting in Italy earlier this month, key jurisdictions issued the latest in a series of coordinated economic restrictions on Russia in light of its invasion of Ukraine in...more
7/1/2024
/ Belarus Sanctions ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Trade Regulations ,
G7 ,
General Licenses ,
Military Conflict ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Technology ,
UK ,
Ukraine
The EU legislature has finally reached an agreement on the text of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) (see here our previous client alert). The CS3D profoundly affects the ways companies active in...more
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 October 16, 2023, the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) of the European Parliament adopted their position (the Committee Position; see here and...more
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 May 16, the Regulation establishing an EU Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was published in the Official Journal of the EU and entered into force the following day. Under the CBAM, importers into the EU of...more
On 20 April 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted a package of measures to “simplify” its merger control procedures. The reform expands the scope of the EU’s simplified merger control procedure, introduces a new...more
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 December 8, 2022, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Union’s highest court, delivered a landmark ruling in Orde van Vlaamse Balies a.o. (the Judgment) clarifying that legal professional privilege (LPP) is...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 May 10, 2022, the European Commission adopted the final text of the new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) accompanied by the new Guidelines on Vertical Restraints (the VGL), which provide detail on interpretation...more
On 23 February 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“Proposed Directive”) laying down new obligations for large companies to ensure that their...more
The year 2021 was a prolific one for environmental, social and governance (ESG) in the EU. The year 2022 looks just as productive for the EU legislature....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)
Top EU Court Rules on the EU Blocking Regulation Against US Sanctions for the First Time -
On December 21, 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), sitting as a “Grand Chamber” (a formation used, among...more
On 9 December 2021, the European Commission’s (“Commission”) EU Taxonomy Climate Change Delegated Act (“DA”) was published in the Official Journal of the EU after being approved by the European Council. It will enter into...more
On 22 September 2021, the EU’s second-highest court, the General Court, confirmed the European Commission’s 2018 decision (Case T-425/18—Altice Europe v. Commission) imposing an EUR 124 million fine on Altice Europe NV...more