The Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has launched a sector inquiry into the banking services market following their decision of 1 March 2018. The decision was triggered following a conducted overview of the current interest rates, fees and commissions published on the websites of the banks – members of the Association of Banks…
The French Competition Authority (“FCA”) has published the results of its sector-specific inquiry into display online advertising. The 125-page opinion of March 6, 2018, (“Opinion“) identifies potential competition concerns and is likely to trigger individual antitrust investigations by the FCA (and potentially other national competition authorities) in the online advertising sector. Background In May 2016,…
The Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) announced on February 1, 2018, to launch a sector inquiry into online advertising (here). This in line with the FCO’s focus on competitive conditions in the digital economy and big data. The FCO follows the French competition authority that started a separate online advertising sector inquiry in 2016 and has…
On 27 February 2018, the European Union (EU) adopted the EU geo-blocking regulation (the Regulation), which will enter into force by the end of the year. The Regulation prohibits unjustified geo-blocking, and other forms of discrimination, based on customers’ nationality, place of residence, or place of establishment. The Regulation is particularly relevant to all businesses…
In a judgment dated 5 February 2018, the General Court of the EU (the “General Court”) rejected the appeal by German retailer Edeka–Handelsgesellschaft Hessenring’s (“Edeka”) against a decision by the European Commission (the “Commission”) refusing Edeka’s application to obtain access to material classified by the Commission as confidential during its investigation into alleged manipulation of…
The Polish competition authority applies the principle of in dubio pro reo in the case concerning a cartel on the domestic certification market (and refuses to use lie detecting devices) On 29 December 2017, the Polish competition authority – the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the “OCCP President”) – penalised a…
Background Significant amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On protection of economic competition” came into force on 17 December 2017. The changes are aimed at prohibiting transactions involving persons included in the Ukrainian sanctions list (the Sanctions list). The Sanctions list was introduced by the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions” following the annexation of Crimea…
On January 24, 2017, the European Commission announced that it had fined Qualcomm EUR 997,439,000. The Commission thinks that Qualcomm had abused its dominant position to become Apple’s sole supplier of long term evolution (“LTE“) baseband chipsets. The abuse was allegedly committed through exclusive deals, which lasted from 2011 to 2016. Baseband chipsets are key components in smartphones and tablets, which enable connection…
On 2 February 2018, the EU Internal Market Sub-Committee of the House of Lords (“EU Committee”) published its report on the implications of Brexit on competition law and State aid (“Report”)[1]. On antitrust and merger control, the Report concludes that there should continue to be consistency between the UK’s and EU’s approach to competition matters,…
Standard essential patents (SEPs) and fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms remain hotly debated topics within antitrust circles as regulators around the world stake out their positions. In November 2017, the European Commission (the Commission) published its Communication on the EU approach to Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) (the Communication).[1] It sets out a general,…
