In March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) issued its first fine on a company for concealing relevant evidence during a dawn raid, fining Fender Musical Instruments Europe Limited (“Fender”) £25,000.  This is the latest example of a trend among competition authorities to hold companies accountable for dawn raid procedural violations, (see, for…

Summary On 14 March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to close its investigation into a discount scheme by Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (MSD).[1] The CMA concluded that there were no grounds for it to take action, since MSD’s discount strategy was not likely to limit competition in anticipation of the…

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) recently welcomed the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of a challenge brought against a decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) by Balmoral, a supplier of steel water tanks. The CMA had fined Balmoral £130,000 in December 2016 for a single exchange of pricing information which, in the particular…

CMA Brexit Draft Guidance On 28 January 2019 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) issued draft guidance on the effects of any no-deal Brexit on the CMA’s functions and its enforcement approach. This guidance has been made more urgent by the continuing UK political divisions that have plagued the Brexit process and which could…

The CJEU’s judgment in MEO earlier this year seemed to be a welcome, final piece of the puzzle in the legal framework for analyzing when price discrimination is abusive. It was now relatively settled, it seemed, that for price discrimination to be an abuse of dominance, it must generally fall into one of two boxes…

The CMA’s recent “economic working paper” on the use of algorithms to facilitate collusion and personalised pricing follows on the heels of other work in this area (including by CMA) but is a bit different because it focuses on economic evidence and analysis. While there is nothing in it about the ‘lawfulness’ of a given…

On 18 September 2018, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA“) announced that Heathrow airport (“Heathrow“) will pay a fine of £1.6 million in relation to an infringement of UK competition law arising from a restriction included within a commercial lease.[1]See, www.gov.uk/government/news/heathrow-and-arora-admit-to-anti-competitive-car-park-agreement Importantly, this case marks the first occasion that the CMA has used…

The UK’s expected separation from the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019 (Brexit Date) will re-cast the process by which parties pursuing global mergers secure their antitrust approvals. It will also reshape the potential exposure that parties face when subjected to global investigations of anticompetitive conduct. As Brexit rapidly approaches, businesses increasingly seek guidance…

The UK Government has recently indicated its intention to transpose the EU State aid rules into domestic legislation, even in the event of the UK exiting the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement on 29 March 2019.  This was made clear in a “no deal” Brexit technical notice on State aid (the “notice”) published, alongside 24…

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…