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.   CMA Investigation In March 2022, the CMA opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct in relation to the recycling of end-of-life vehicles….

Following its exit from the European Union, the UK is no longer bound by the EU’s rules governing public subsidies.  At the end of April 2022, the UK Parliament passed the Subsidy Control Act 2022, which sets out a new framework for granting and controlling public subsidies.  The Act is expected to enter into full…

For many Britainophiles in the EU, the noise of the Brexiteers and their shouting about “world-beating Britain” during the last five years of the departure process have been hard to bear. However, the constant banging has also at times obscured the excellent work still being carried out by legal minds on the other side of…

We are continuing with our competition law issues of the International Law Talk Podcast. Two weeks ago, I talked to Oliver Bretz, founding partner at Euclid Law and a merger expert, about the fragmentation of EU merger control. We focused particularly on the changes in the EU one-stop-systems through Brexit, the increasing use of EU…

The December 24 announcement that the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) had reached an agreement in principle on a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the TCA) was greeted with sighs of relief on both sides of the Channel.  For competition lawyers and parties engaged in M&A activities, however, the work of clarifying…

On 2 December 2020, the European Commission published a Notice to Stakeholders on Brexit and EU competition law.[1]  It essentially reflects the UK position as set out in CMA guidance published on 1 December 2020.[2] These papers are equivalent to the divorce papers governing the children’s custody. Who has the kids and when over the…

Whilst the EU-UK trade negotiations have barely commenced, one thing is already quite clear: the two sides are poles apart on the key issue of level playing field (LPF) provisions and the extent to which these should feature in a future EU-UK free trade agreement.  The aim of these provisions, as originally set out in…

As you are aware, the UK will be leaving the EU this Friday 31 January (Exit Day). The CMA has published guidance on how Brexit affects the CMA’s powers and processes for antitrust enforcement and merger control during the Transition Period, towards the end of that period, and after it ends. The guidance also explains…

At the time of writing, there is still a lot of uncertainty as regards the question of whether the United Kingdom will leave the European Union with an exit deal on 31 October 2019.  However, what is clear is that State aid regulation will continue in the UK irrespective of the way in which the…