#1. The Commission’s big three worries: Data as a vital tool for doing business; platforms which control access to important digital resources and then expand; killer acquisitions and other ways of blocking the path to innovation. The Commission feels a great responsibility to “shape digitisation before it shapes us”. While the existing legal toolkit is…
On 16 January 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU” or “Court”) dismissed the European Commission’s appeal against the annulment of its decision to prohibit the acquisition of TNT by UPS. The CJEU stressed the importance of respecting companies’ rights of defence as regards economic analysis and methodology used in merger control….
In this briefing, we describe how certain employment practices, such as no-poach or wage-fixing agreements, may infringe competition law, a topic that has recently taken centre stage in the US and is also firmly, although more discretely, on the radar of antitrust authorities in Europe, but perhaps not yet on that of companies. Here is…
On 21 December 2018, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (“ACM”) published guidelines on its simplified settlement procedure (“Settlement Guidelines”).[1] Such a procedure can be followed if the ACM intends to impose a fine and the undertaking or person involved is prepared to admit the allegations and to accept the fine. The ACM can…
1. More Deals Receive More Scrutiny Of 98 deals notified, 11 received extended CCPC review (including 4 Phase 2 reviews) – the most extended reviews ever conducted by the CCPC in a single year. While no deal was blocked outright, 5 were cleared conditional on CCPC-approved remedies, including, in one case, a business divestment remedy….
On 3 January 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released a draft of the Regulation on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreement Conduct (Draft) on its website, inviting comments from interested stakeholders. The consultation period ends on 3 February. The Draft is the first significant normative output in the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) field after…
On 17 December 2018 the European Commission issued the public version of its decision in the McDonald’s case (SA.38945). The Commission found, contrary to its initial conclusion in the opening decision, that Luxembourg did not grant illegal State aid to McDonald’s as a consequence of the exemption of income attributed to a US branch. If…
I. Introduction to the internet consultation On 19 December 2018 the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (“Ministry”) started an internet consultation on competition law and online platforms, in particular on the question whether additional regulation is required to deal with the challenges these platforms bring. Online platforms, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook,…
It’s been almost a year since the new “Internet clause” in China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) is in force. The enforcement authority hasn’t used it much in 2018. But one decision is noteworthy. AUCL amendment On 1 January 2018, the first amendment to the AUCL since its enactment in 1993 came into effect. One…
Introduction Servier v. Commission (Case T‑691/14) is the second decision of the General Court of the European Union on “pay-for-delay” patent settlements in the pharmaceutical industry,[1] following the 2016 decision of the Court on Lundbeck v. Commission (Case T-472/13).[2] In 2014, the European Commission imposed fines totalling €427.7 million for violations of European competition laws…
