In Denmark, the Danish Competition Council is the principal enforcer of competition law, with the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority acting as the day-to-day caretaker, including rendering decisions in (minor) cases. Decisions from either the Competition and Consumer Authority or the Competition Council may be appealed to the Danish Competition Appeals Board or the judiciary,…

For unknown reasons, DG COMP persists in hiding the jewels when it comes to discrimination cases. This covers BdKEP/Deutsche Post AG from 2004, where DG COMP established (recital 93) how Article 102 TFEU covers three forms of discrimination, two exclusionary and one exploitive. As explained later, these have been referred to as horizontal-, vertical-, and…

In Denmark, the Danish Competition Council is the principal enforcer of competition law with the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority acting as the day-to-day caretaker, including rendering decisions in (minor) cases. Decisions from either the Competition and Consumer Authority and the Competition Council may be appealed to the Danish Competition Appeals Board or the judiciary,…

Case law has given rise to the concept of a Single and Continuous Infringement, providing for consolidating all actions and undertakings supporting an infringement. Including those with a marginal affiliation or effect, providing a doctrine of immense practical relevance. However, while the doctrine allows for solving practical issues, it does not dispense with the obligation…

In Denmark, the Competition Council is the principal enforcer of competition law with the Competition and Consumer Authority acting as the day-to-day caretaker, including rendering decisions in (minor) cases. Decisions from either may be appeals to the Competition Tribunal or the judiciary, and after amendments in 2021 which implemented the ECN+ directive, initial appeal to…

On the 18th of November, the European Court of Justice delivered its Visma (case C-306/20) ruling, that regardless of some important observations, appears to have largely gone unnoticed by the anti-trust community. Probably, overshadowed by the General Court ruling in Google Shopping a few days prior, but from a practical perspective arguably amounts to a…

After deliberating on the matter for a year, DG COMP on the 9th of December published its draft guidance on the application of Article 101 on collective bargaining of the self-employed. This is done in response to the rise and proliferation of the online economy, centred specifically on platforms and greater reliance on freelancers and…

The Norwegian Competition Authority has issued a draft paper on abusive (price) discrimination, outlining how the agency plans to approach the matter, which should be most welcome. Essentially, the legal position is at best unclear, creating room for misapplications. The otherwise famous Post Danmark I case, e.g., originated in a misguided national attempt to apply…

Much noise has been made over the US FTC’s 2013 decision not to pursue charges against Google. A recent release of the full file has fueled this further, feeding into a general frustration over Big Tech and perceived enforcement deficits. However, most of the FTC file has been available since 2015, and but for a…

The rise and proliferation of the online economy, centred specifically on platforms, has opened new opportunities for private individuals to sell their labour in new and more flexible ways. Either full or part-time or when convenient or requested. However, this has also created conflicts as unions see the increased utilization of freelancers and the self-employed…