After years of planning and debate, the UK's Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act will come into force on 1 January 2025. This landmark legislation provides expanded powers to the CMA in respect of merger control,...more
The European Commission has published for public consultation its long-awaited draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses (draft Guidelines). The draft Guidelines aim at making it faster and easier for the Commission to pursue...more
The French Competition Authority (“FCA”) is committed to an “open door” policy to support companies wishing to pursue projects around sustainable development. Continuing its informal policy since 2020, the FCA has published a...more
6/3/2024
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
France ,
French Competition Authority ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sustainability
The first months of application of the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) have involved a large number of notifications, lengthy and wide-ranging requests for information, and the opening of the first in-depth...more
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") has published a research report on competition and market power in labour markets. The report is likely to reinforce the CMA’s determination to use its competition law...more
The European Commission ("EC") has published its final revised Horizontal Cooperation Guidelines and adopted new R&D and Specialisation Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs). The EC's aim is to provide more guidance for...more
Advocate General Anthony Michael Collins has proposed that the European Court of Justice uphold the General Court's Altice judgment. In his Opinion, he considered that the entering into certain types of pre-closing covenants...more
5/11/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Belgium ,
Competition ,
EU ,
EUMR ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Proportionality ,
Transparency ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
The UK antitrust authority, the CMA, has recently published a guide for employers on how to avoid breaching UK antitrust law in labour markets. This publication signals the UK's intent to ratchet up antitrust scrutiny of...more
3/20/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
United States
On 8 February 2023, the CAT upheld claims by both BMW and Volkswagen confirming that the CMA cannot compel responses to information requests from companies with no territorial connection to the UK. In March 2022, the CMA...more
On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law...more
The Dutch Competition Authority has recently approved three different sustainability initiatives in the CO2 capture/storage, soft drinks and floriculture sectors. These approvals demonstrate the Dutch Competition Authority’s...more
Advocate General Kokott has found that the General Court erred in law in requiring the European Commission to show anti-competitive effects of a merger with “strong probability” and that the scope of its judicial review was...more
10/28/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Investment ,
Judicial Review ,
Mergers ,
Standard of Proof ,
Telecommunications ,
UK
On 12 July 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority published final guidance for its new antitrust rules governing vertical agreements. The new rules provide additional flexibility for the design of distribution...more
On 13 July 2022, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the European Commission's jurisdiction to review the Illumina/Grail transaction following a referral pursuant to Article 22 EUMR. The judgment is an important...more
7/18/2022
/ Admissibility ,
EU ,
EUMR ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
General Court of the European Union (GCEU) ,
Infrastructure ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Jurisdiction ,
Killer Acquisitions ,
Merger Reviews
On 18 May 2022, the EU General Court (GC) upheld the European Commission's (EC) € 28 million fine imposed on Canon for gun-jumping in the context of a (somewhat unique) so-called warehousing structure. The judgment confirms...more
On 1 March 2022, the European Commission ("EC") published for consultation two draft revised horizontal block exemption regulations ("HBERs") on research & development ("R&D") and specialisation agreements, as well as draft...more
As part of its review of the EU antitrust rules governing vertical agreements, the European Commission (EC) has published for consultation a draft new section of its Vertical Guidelines, which contains proposed guidance on...more
2/16/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Distributors ,
Draft Guidance ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Exemptions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER)
On 26 January 2022, the EU's General Court (GC) annulled the European Commission's (EC) €1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing a dominant position with its rebate schemes. The judgment demonstrates that the European Courts...more
1/28/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Burden of Proof ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
European Commission ,
Fines ,
General Court of the European Union (GCEU) ,
Intel ,
Rebates ,
Standard of Proof ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
In a speech on 22 October 2021, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager revealed that the European Commission was planning a series of dawn raids for the months to come. She highlighted that the European Commission is...more
As the importance of sustainability and eco-friendliness grows among consumers worldwide, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concerns that an increasing number of businesses misleadingly market their products...more
This autumn, European competition authorities are likely to resume dawn raids of companies suspected of competition law infringements. This will aim to clear a backlog of planned inspections that has built up since the start...more
On 9 July 2021, the European Commission (EC) published for public consultation a draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and draft revised guidelines on vertical restraints (Vertical Guidelines). The EC has...more
On 26 May 2021, the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced that it would not undertake a market investigation reference on the back of its study into the electric vehicle charging market and will instead propose a...more
On 6 May 2021, the European Commission ("Commission") published a staff working document ("SWD") on its evaluation of the horizontal block exemption regulations on research & development and specialisation agreements...more
On 5 May 2021, the European Commission ("Commission") issued a proposal for a far-reaching Regulation to tackle foreign subsidies, which, if adopted, will increase the regulatory risk for companies operating or investing in...more
5/10/2021
/ Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Joint Venture ,
Mergers ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Consultations ,
Public Procurement Policies