Liability, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The recent decision of the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) in its investigation into Altıparmak Gıda A.Ş. (“Balparmak”) and Sezen Gıda Ltd. Şti. (“Anavarza”), prominent players in the bee products market, highlights a pivotal shift in corporate liability for employees’ anti-competitive behaviour when conducted without the company’s knowledge. Unlike the approach to corporate liability taken…

Advocate General, Disclosure, Enforcement, Leniency, Private enforcement, Procedures, Settlement

(University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

The scope of the protection of leniency documents appears to be the central issue when it comes to the discussion about whether there is a conflict between private and public enforcement. AG Szpunar’s statements in the recently published Opinion (C-2/23) have now shed light on the CJEU’s possible direction for how to deal with this…

Art. 22, Competition policy, European Commission, Guidance, Killer acquisitions, Merger control, Mergers

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium) and , (Analysis Group)/ /Leave a comment

With the new European Commission (Commission) confirmed, European Union (EU) competition policy will be directed through 2029 by Teresa Ribera Rodríguez as the Executive Vice President (EVP) for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition from December 2024. EVP Ribera would have her hands full simply continuing the work started by outgoing EVP Vestager, including the…

Data protection, European Court of Justice, Pharmaceuticals, Unfair competition, Unfair trading practices

(Vrije Universiteit Brussel)/ /Leave a comment

The Lindenapotheke judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) marks a significant development in the interplay between data protection and unfair competition law. In this data protection case, a pharmacy filed an injunction before a national court against a competitor, operating under the name Lindenapotheke, to stop the latter’s online sale of pharmacy-only medicines….

AI, Art. 22, Italy, Killer acquisitions, Mergers

(University of Antwerp) and (Bocconi University)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The European Commission is assessing the acquisition of Israeli startup Run:ai by the US tech giant Nvidia upon referral from the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) under Art. 22(1) EUMR. The case is of particular interest, as it raises question of both legal and policy nature. On the…

India, Settlement

(Competition Commission of India) and (Bennett University)/ /Leave a comment

The Honourable High Court of Delhi (Delhi HC) through its recent judgment in the case of JCB v. CCI, has quashed the preliminary investigation of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) initiated under section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002. This move of Delhi HC has the potential to adversely alter the course of competition…

Compliance, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA)’s provisions started to apply on 2 May 2023. Since then, undertakings have been forced to check whether they met the quantitative thresholds. If that was the case, the DMA compelled them to notify their potential gatekeeper status to the European Commission. The first wave of designation decisions relating to six gatekeepers…

Competition enforcement, ECN, Geopolitics, National competition authorities (NCAs), United Kingdom

(University College London) and (University of Cambridge)/ /Leave a comment

The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union put European competition policy in a somewhat awkward state. The schism left EU and UK competition law as geographical neighbours and almost identical twins in both legal form and substance, yet worlds apart in terms of their ability to coordinate. Prior to Brexit, and as the competition authority…

Automotive, Türkiye, Vertical agreements

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The rise of electric passenger cars has reshaped global markets, driven by decarbonization policies, growing consumer awareness, and innovative marketing strategies. Türkiye is no exception, with the sector developing rapidly. A significant step in this evolution is the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) decision dated December 21, 2023. This decision granted an individual exemption for…

AI, Data protection, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Deployment of systems of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become mainstream and popular with small and large economic operators. One of the most raging developments includes services relying on natural language processing (NLP) taking the form of chatbots. In a previous blog post, I explored the opportunities the Digital Markets Act (DMA) provides the regulator to…