Cartels, Land agreements, United Kingdom

(Gowling WLG)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Cartels, Denmark, Restriction by object

(Szecskay Attorneys-at-Law, Hungary)/ /Leave a comment

The question of what constitutes a restriction of competition ‘by object’ has forever been intensely discussed and heavily litigated across the EU. As AG Kokott stated in her opinion in T-Mobile, the existence of an ‘object’ box is justified by the benefit of legal certainty and, not least, the need for conserving resources of competition…

Antitrust, Brexit, European Union, Mergers, United Kingdom

, , (Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /1 Comment

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…

Bulgaria, Media, Mergers

(Kambourov & Partners) and / /Leave a comment

The contemplated acquisition of Nova Broadcasting Group AD by PPF TMT Bidco 2 В.V (the latter entity and its economic group hereinafter referred to as “PPF”) along with a separate acquisition of the vertically integrated business of CEZ Group of companies (owned by CEZ a.s.) by the Bulgarian company Inercom EAD have been making the…

Connected cars, European Union, Fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND)

, , , , , , , (Jones Day)/ /Leave a comment

Standards and Standard-Setting Organizations Smart cars rely on interconnectivity and interoperability: in order to achieve autonomous driving, driverless vehicles will have to understand and engage with their environment so they can react and adapt accordingly. Connected cars will become one of the applications of the internet of things as vehicles will be constantly exchanging information…

Algorithms, Big data, Collusion, India

(Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholar, MSc Law & Finance, University of Oxford)/ /Leave a comment

The Promises of a digital algorithm economy The digital world has overtaken its offline counterparts in most aspects and is only expected to grow by leaps and bounds due to its economic efficiency features. Take online commerce for instance. It promotes greater transparency, ensures dissemination of symmetric information and ease of doing business. It allows…

European Union, State aid, Tax

(Stockholm University)/ /Leave a comment

On September 4, 2018 the European Commission published the non-confidential version of its decision in the Engie case (SA.44888), where it concluded that Luxembourg had granted illegal State aid through two tax rulings.[1] The decision has been appealed by Luxembourg.[2] The decision brings interesting additions and precisions to the arguments developed in the earlier cases…

Brexit, European Union, State aid, United Kingdom

(Pinsent Masons)/ /1 Comment

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…

Mergers, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

On August 27, 2018, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) announced that it had unanimously cleared the acquisition of one of the largest retailers of various products such as books, periodicals, music, electronics, accessories, video games and toys (“D&R”) by another retailer & wholesaler of the relevant products (“TveK”).[1] Furthermore, the group of companies to which…

World Competition Law and Economics Review

(Bird and Bird, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Maciej Bernatt, Marco Botta & Alexandr Svetlicinii, The Right of Defence in the Decentralized System of EU Competition Law Enforcement: A Call for Harmonization from Central and Eastern Europe The article compares the application…