Competition enforcement, Competition policy, Digital competition, European Commission, European Union, New Competition Tool

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The Draghi Report proposes substantial reform in the area of competition law, notably offering a critical assessment of recent policies implemented by the European Commission in merger control and antitrust enforcement. The Report will serve as a potential blueprint for Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, the Competition Commissioner-Designate and the European Commission to shape and execute competition…

European Commission, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Legislation

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Introduction   Earlier this year, the European Commission published a legislative proposal for a new FDI Screening Regulation. The legislative proposal builds, as noted in the Commission’s 4th Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI), on the experience gained by the Commission and EU Member States over the previous three years under…

Apple, European Court of Justice, State aid, Subsidies, Tax, Taxation

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On September 10, 2024, the European Court of Justice (ECJ or Court) sided with the European Commission (Commission) and ruled that two Irish subsidiaries of Apple Inc. received unlawful state aid from Ireland in the form of a tax advantage (Case C-465/20 P). Ireland has reported that it will now finalise the recovery of approximately…

Cartels, Damages, Economics, Estimation, Germany, Information exchange

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Introduction Cartel damages proceedings are a highly interdisciplinary endeavour between lawyers and economists in many jurisdictions, including Germany. Lawyers and courts in such proceedings must, among other things, answer a fundamentally economic question—namely, what would have been the price in a market absent the infringement? In addition, the European Damages Directive of 2014 has set…

Australia, ESG, Sustainability

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In Brief The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) continue to be vigilant and seek significant penalties for alleged “greenwashing” (misleading environmental or sustainability claims). The ACCC has been vocal that greenwashing is an enforcement priority for some time and, in December 2023, issued guidance for businesses in…

Abuse of dominance, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Essential Facility, Google, Self-preferencing

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Introduction The decision of the ECJ of 10th of September 2024 (C-48/22 P) brings the Google Shopping saga to an end. The decision by the highest court confirms the conviction of Alphabet by the General Court (T-612/17) (see the blogpost on General Court’s decision here). The European Commission had previously imposed a record fine of…

Australia, Legislation, Merger Thresholds, Mergers

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In Brief On 10 October 2024, the Australian Government introduced a bill into Parliament for Australia to enact a mandatory and suspensory competition merger clearance regime. The regime will commence on 1 January 2026, although parties can voluntarily seek clearance under the new regime from 1 July 2025. The thresholds for mandatory merger clearance[1] are…

Data protection, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Commission

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As the DMA’s enforcement is in full swing, the complexities of its specific provisions and questions regarding their interpretation are beginning to surface. On 25 March 2024, the European Commission launched formal proceedings to investigate Meta’s ‘pay-or-consent’ model, introduced in November 2023 for Facebook and Instagram, sparking a significant discussion on the interpretation of Article…

App stores, Apple, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Interoperability

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To commemorate the Digital Markets Act’s initial designation decisions, in September the European Commission issued its first two decisions opening specification proceedings on Apple’s technical implementation of Article 6(7) DMA (see case DMA.100203 and case DMA.100204). These are the first specification proceedings triggered by the European Commission as stemming from its capacity to do so…

Art. 22, Competition policy, Killer acquisitions, National competition authorities (NCAs)

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Introduction Following the CJEU Illumina/Grail ruling the case here is made for the Commission to negotiate with the national competition authorities (NCAs) to adopt a common approach to dealing with so-called ‘killer acquisitions’ both substantively and procedurally. The concept here would be for the Commission and the NCAs to negotiate a common network notice which…