2021: Less case law, more legislation While the year 2021 was a rather unspectacular year regarding relevant new case law, the legislative made sure it provided for quite noteworthy developments in competition law nonetheless. The Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo“) and especially the courts produced relatively few leading decisions in 2021, with still a lot of…
Interim measures are back on the Swiss Competition Commission’s radar, especially in dominance cases. The background of this latest development is the authority’s desire to accelerate its proceedings and ensure the efficacy of competition law. However, the most recent cases show that interim measures are not always suitable for this purpose – especially in dynamic…
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court (the “Court”) found in its decision of February 4, 2021, 2C_149/2018 (the “Decision”) that Pfizer Ltd. (“Pfizer”) had entered into an unlawful vertical price agreement (concerted practice) with pharmacies and physicians limiting competition by issuing vertical price recommendations for Viagra. The decision raises questions as to whether and under what…
Early April, the Federal Supreme Court clarified controversial questions regarding the privilege against self-incrimination in Competition Law Proceedings in three much-noticed decisions (2C_383/2020, 2C_87/2020 and 2C_88/2020)[1]. The Decisions In 2018, the Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo“) opened proceedings against various financial institutions regarding an alleged boycott in Switzerland. The Competition Commission suspected that the addressees of…
In 2016, a public initiative was launched in Switzerland, requesting amendments to the Cartel Act in order to enforce non-discriminatory procurement of goods and services abroad by Swiss purchasers. Furthermore, the initiative requested the introduction of rules against geo-blocking in the Unfair Competition Act. This so-called “Fair-Price Initiative” is backed by various consumer, hotel, gastronomy…
2020: Business as usual (more or less) While over the past year COVID has had a major impact on our lives in many areas, it left Swiss competition law practice refreshingly unimpressed. In late March 2020, in the middle of the first lockdown, the Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo“) issued a clear message: Swiss competition law…
Under Swiss law, a proposed concentration triggers a mandatory pre-merger notification if one of the undertakings concerned was held dominant, irrespective of the statutory turnover thresholds. It was previously unclear whether this criterion had to be met at the time of signing or at the time of closing. The authority has now clarified this question….
Introduction The Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo”) fined Stöckli Swiss Sports (“Stöckli”), a Swiss manufacturer of Skis and other sport products, for vertical price fixing with its dealers with CHF 140’000. The fine was rather low, as Stöckli had filed a leniency application, albeit after ComCo having opened the investigation, and a settlement was reached. The settlement…
In its decision of June 24, 2019, the Federal Supreme Court affirms Ticketcorner Holding AG’s sole legitimacy to lodge a complaint against ComCo’s prohibition of the merger between its wholly-owned subsidiary Ticketcorner AG and Starticket AG. The Federal Supreme Court thereby clarifies that parties to a joint venture are not obliged to jointly appeal against…
The Federal Council aims at tightening up the Cartel Act in order to combat the foreclosure of the Swiss market and the price discrimination against Swiss corporate customers. For this purpose, the Federal Council has adopted a draft bill and a dispatch to Parliament addressing the people’s initiative “stop Switzerland’s high prices – the fair…
