Triggered by the technological advancements and the demand created by the awareness regarding the protection of the environment, electric vehicles (“EVs”) has become a centre of attention for the automotive industry. Also, the emission regulations contributed significantly to this change and the players that have been active in the manufacturing of traditional fossil fuelled vehicles…
This post explains (i) why there is friction between sustainability initiatives and competition law and (ii) how the EU Commission could take steps to address this. Recent EU developments suggest a renewed interest in this area: In November 2018, the EU Competition Commissioner hinted at a more worldly application of the EU competition rules by emphasising that…
Canon, the Japanese imaging and optical products manufacturer, has been fined €28 million (US$ 31.8 million) for implementing its acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (TMSC), before it was approved by the Commission, which is in breach of EU merger control rules. The fine was announced by the European Commission on 27 June 2019. …
On 22 July 2019, the European Commission published a new State aid Recovery Notice on its website (publication in the Official Journal of the European Union will follow).[1] The new Notice replaces the Recovery Notice of 2007[2] which was introduced to address the slow and sometimes inadequate implementation of State aid recovery decisions by EU…
Following the political shake-up in Europe and the severance of the EPP and S&D combined majority, horse-trading with other political parties within the European Parliament over the next 5 years is inevitable. In addition, the upcoming new Commission President and the new College of Commissioners are expected to establish the political priorities that will shape…
Common ownership currently is one of the focus topics in the antitrust community. Einer Elhauge, a Harvard Law professor, has called it the “greatest anticompetitive threat of our times”. Others believe that there is no issue at all. The below gives an overview on the status of the debate and analyses the recent EU Commission…
Lawyers across Europe holding their breath while awaiting the General Court’s ruling on the Belgian Excess Profits case were doubtlessly disappointed. On Valentine’s Day, the General Court reminded the European Commission that “tough love” is always a possibility, but the Commission’s defeat is no mortal blow. Its decision was annulled on more or less “technical” grounds,…
On 17 December 2018 the European Commission issued the public version of its decision in the McDonald’s case (SA.38945). The Commission found, contrary to its initial conclusion in the opening decision, that Luxembourg did not grant illegal State aid to McDonald’s as a consequence of the exemption of income attributed to a US branch. If…
The General Court (GC) ruling of September 26 in Case T-574/14 constitutes an important (and possibly final) episode in the European Union’s (EU) review of the Spanish “dual pricing” and parallel trade saga. The GC found that the European Commission was not obliged to adopt a new decision as to whether an agreement GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had put…
On 24 July 2018, the European Commission (“Commission”) fined, in four separate decisions, consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer for imposing fixed or minimum resale prices on their online retailers. The total fine imposed on the four manufacturers amounts to more than EUR 111 million. The infringements related to a variety of…
