Fragmented Merger Control Landscape in Europe People like certainty. That is especially true for M&A dealmaking. Clear thresholds and parameters around regulatory approvals give dealmakers certainty as to what steps need to be taken to get deals over the line. Yet, many EU jurisdictions now permit merger review by way of new call-in powers for…
2023 was a watershed moment in competition law in Ireland with the start of a new civil fines regime. A further wave of EU and Irish rules enhanced powers for the CCPC and ComReg, created two new Irish regulators and is expected to bring a radical change to enforcement across multiple sectors, such as Tech,…
On 29 June 2022, Ireland enacted major reforms to its Competition Act. These changes will impact on all sectors across the Irish economy, with potential target industries such as Life Sciences, Energy, Technology and Consumer Goods facing increased scrutiny – particularly as Ireland is a key HQ location for EMEA operations. While the reforms belatedly…
Back in April 2017, The Times ran a story detailing how a drug giant had a “secret plan” to destroy a cancer medicine unless large price rises were agreed to by national purchasing authorities. A month later, the European Commission opened an investigation into Aspen. Almost four years later in February 2021, it accepted commitments…
What are commitments? The recent effort by the Commission to settle the Aspen case suggests that commitment decisions are the preferred route to settle complex excessive pricing cases at EU-level. Previous commitment cases where high prices have been at issue include Rambus, Standard & Poor’s and Gazprom. The EU rules allow the Commission to make…
