Major amendments to competition legislation are expected to add more bite to the bark of Sweden’s antitrust watchdog. On 1 March 2021, the Swedish Competition Authority (SCA) gained a number of new powers and introduced some related changes to its routines. Specific to Sweden but with broader resonance in real terms, this is a good…
The ECN+ Directive requires all EU Member States to confer upon their national competition authorities certain enforcement and sanctioning powers. The Danish implementing act, no. L 116 (link only available in Danish), was passed by the Danish Parliament on 9 February 2021. Although the ECN+ Directive was adopted on 11 December 2018, and therefore well-known…
On 10 December 2020, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) announced that it has launched a pilot investigation into the role of algorithms in commercial interactions between market players and the impact on market behaviour these algorithms may have. The ACM intends to put this knowledge to use in order to inform market…
In the context of ongoing antitrust investigations into Facebook Inc.’s (‘Facebook’) data-related practices (AT.40628) and Facebook marketplace (AT.40684), on 13 March 2020 the European Commission (‘Commission’) issued two formal requests for information (‘RFIs’), requiring the company to produce a large number of internal documents. Facebook challenged the RFIs before the General Court of the European…
Introduction In the previous days, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) resolved under its decision dated 26.03.2020 and numbered 20-16/234-M to open an investigation against the undertaking operating in the automotive sector in order to re-evaluate its decision dated 24.06.2009 and numbered 09-30/637-150 since it was annulled by the 13th Chamber of Council of States. Given…
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is consulting on proposed revisions[1]The CMA’s consultation document, and the Draft Revised Guidance, are available at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/revised-guidance-on-competition-disqualification-orders. to its current guidance on director disqualification in competition law cases (the “Current Guidance”).[2]The Current Guidance is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/competition-disqualification-orders. The consultation on the CMA’s proposed revised guidance (the “Draft Revised…
The approach to access to file and who can receive what information can deviate by jurisdiction which can be particularly relevant in international antitrust cases. The ongoing Qualcomm case is a good example for that. Qualcomm is currently under investigation by several competition authorities, allegedly refusing to licence standard essential cellular patents to competitors on…
Let me get this straight from the beginning. I am not a big fan of the trend among the competition authorities to introduce whistleblowing programs. For me this seems to be rather a sign of weakness and not of strength. If other available tools (and especially the leniency program) worked well there would probably be…
In its recent draft annual plan, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) committed itself “to further step up the pace, scale and impact of our enforcement against anticompetitive or unfair practices.” It therefore intends to increase, to at least six, the number of new civil investigations it undertakes under Chapter I of the Competition Act…
In all competition investigations, it is inevitable that the parties under investigation, and often also third parties, will receive numerous information requests and demands to produce documents and provide information. Such requests may be either formal or informal in nature. These are often burdensome, requiring the provision of substantial information and documentation in a short…
