The European Commission (or to be more precise, and to point the finger in the right direction, DG Competition) has sweeping powers of investigation in cases of suspected infringement. Indeed, it has even sought and obtained powers that it then seems reluctant to use, such as the right to enter private homes in search of…
I. INTRODUCTION In June 2015, Canada’s Competition Bureau released its updated draft of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines (“Draft IPEGs”) for public review and consultation. The Draft IPEGs are intended to reflect the 2009 amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”), including the changes to the criminal conspiracy provisions and the introduction of a new…
Canada’s Commissioner of Competition is armed with a variety of compulsory powers that he can use in pursuing investigations. One such power is the ability, with the permission of a court, to subpoena documents and information under section 11 of the Canadian Competition Act. Of late, the Commissioner has been using such orders quite extensively,…
By Anita Banicevic and Mark Katz On October 14, 2015, the Canadian Competition Bureau announced that it had reached a Consent Agreement with Bell Canada to resolve the Bureau’s concerns regarding reviews posted by Bell employees for two Bell applications (apps) that were available from the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store. The…
On October 1, 2015, the FCO published a paper entitled “Digital economy – internet platforms between competition law, privacy and consumer protection” on the occasion of a conference of the working group competition law (consisting of experts from the FCO, German ministries, other competition authorities, academia and judges). The paper discusses various competition law issues…
The first Post Danmark case in 2012[1]Case C-209/10, available here: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=121061&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=148291 brought about a modest antitrust revolution on Article 102 applicable to discrimination. Rarefied economic concepts were confirmed. Price discrimination as a standalone abuse was all but confined to a historical footnote in antitrust textbooks, to be replaced by a predation type test. Article 102…
On 6 October 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in a case concerning rebates and when they fall foul of EU competition law. Background The case concerns Post Danmark and, unlike appeals against European Commission Decisions, came by way of a reference from the Danish High Court seeking formal guidance on the interpretation…
On 1 October 2015, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (“CRA 2015”) entered into force. The CRA 2015 makes numerous changes to consumer rights laws in the United Kingdom. Of particular interest to competition practitioners and litigators are the provisions on private actions in competition law, contained in section 81 of and Schedule 8 to the…
On 15 September 2015, the Ukrainian competition authority, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the AMCU), adopted Recommendations on approaches for calculation of fines for competition law infringements (the Recommendations). This long-awaited step is the result of active public discussions initiated by the AMCU and by the Ukrainian legal professionals’ community. This event is of great…
Company H.R. functions, such as recruitment and compensation, are not typically regarded as antitrust “hot spots” (as opposed to sales and marketing). Recent cases in the United States, however, highlight how hiring practices can create the risk of competition law violations for companies and their H.R. personnel. Since Canadian competition law is similar to U.S….
