Digital markets, Digital Services Act, European Commission, European Union, New Competition Tool, Platforms

(Loyens & Loeff, Netherlands) and , (Loyens & Loeff)/ /Leave a comment

After two rounds of public consultations that ended 8 September 2020, the European Commission (‘Commission’) appears to be on track and make its proposals for new enforcement powers more concrete. The Commission intends to adopt its two definitive legislative proposals before the end of 2020. In this post, we take a look at where the…

Antitrust, Google, Remedies, United States of America

(Vrije Universiteit Brussel)/ /Leave a comment

Few days ahead of a historic presidential election, the political pressure accrues and has already made one collateral casualty: Google. David Cicilline (D-RI) has issued a House Report where big tech companies, including Google, are threatened to be broken up. In the same week, Trump’s Attorney General William Barr launched a lawsuit against Google with…

Foreign direct investment, Merger control, National competition authorities (NCAs), Romania

(University of Macau)/ /Leave a comment

EU FDI Screening Regulation: separating security from competition The Regulation 2019/452 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (EU FDI Screening Regulation) was adopted on 19 March 2019 and became fully operational on 11 October 2020. Its adoption was prompted by the concerns of various stakeholders alleging the existence…

Evidence, Leniency, Merger Thresholds, Settlement, Ukraine

, (Redcliffe Partners)/ /Leave a comment

On 21 October 2020, during the kick-off event of the EU-funded Twinning Project, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the “AMC“) announced that it is preparing the draft law that will introduce amendments to the Ukrainian merger filing thresholds. The AMC will submit the draft law to the Ukrainian Parliament early this November and expects it…

Commitments, European Commission, European Union, Excessive pricing, Pharmaceuticals

(DLA Piper Belgium), (DLA Piper Romania), (DLA Piper Ireland), and (DLA Piper Denmark)/ /Leave a comment

What are commitments? The recent effort by the Commission to settle the Aspen case suggests that commitment decisions are the preferred route to settle complex excessive pricing cases at EU-level.  Previous commitment cases where high prices have been at issue include Rambus, Standard & Poor’s and Gazprom.  The EU rules allow the Commission to make…

Cartels, Competition law, Information exchange, Netherlands, Price fixing

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and , (Bird & Bird)/ /1 Comment

Introduction On 27 May 2020 the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (“ACM”) imposed a fine of € 82 million on four cigarette manufacturers for indirect information exchanges in violation of Article 101 TFEU and 6 Dutch Competition Act. It is the first fine ACM has given for indirect information exchanges between competitors. The manufacturers…

Australia, Resale price maintenance, Vertical restraints

, (K&L Gates)/ /1 Comment

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has commenced proceedings against cycling wholesaler B & K Holdings (QLD) Pty Ltd, trading as FE Sports (FE Sports), alleging that it engaged in resale price maintenance (RPM). The proceedings are a timely reminder of the risks suppliers face if they restrict resellers’ ability to advertise (in addition…

COVID-19, European Union, State aid, Temporary Framework

(Kirkland & Ellis)/ /Leave a comment

On 13 October 2020, the European Commission (“EC”) adopted a fourth amendment to the Temporary Framework of 19 March 2020 (“Temporary Framework”). This amendment builds on the previous three amendments to the Temporary Framework of 3 April 2020 (see our blog post), 8 May 2020 (see our blog post) and 29 June 2020 (see our blog post). The…

Competition policy, Consultation, Europe, European Commission, Green Deal, Sustainability, Vestager

, , , (Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On 13 October 2020, the European Commission (EC) published a call for contributions to gather ideas on how EU competition rules (State aid, antitrust, and merger control) and sustainability policies can best work together. The aim is to gather the widest set of views possible to determine how the competition rules should be amended (if…

European Union, General Court of the European Union, Joint ventures, Market definition, Merger control, Remedies, Turnover thresholds

(Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /1 Comment

The judgment provides useful jurisdictional clarifications for deals involving joint ventures (JVs) acting as an acquirer. The General Court (GC) confirms that when the true players behind the transaction are the parent companies, rather than the JV — because they did the deal valuation, negotiated the transaction structure, and determined the purchase price — the…