James Killick, Author at Kluwer Competition Law Blog

European Commission, European Union, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Merger notification, Mergers

Five Things Funds Need to Know About the Foreign Subsidies Regulation

James Killick, Axel Schulz, Strati Sakellariou-Witt, Irina Trichkovska, Marc Israel, Jérémie Marthan, Jean-Luc Champy, Kate Kelliher, Nina Frie, Jia Liu (White & Case)/July 26, 2023July 21, 2023 /Leave a comment

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation took effect on 12 July 2023 to much fanfare. We take a look at the top five things PE funds need to know when considering acquisitions with a European footprint. The Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) is the European Commission’s attempt to level the playing field for M&A deals by creating…

Brexit, Competition and Markets Authority, Investigations, United Kingdom

UK CAT Puts The Brakes on the CMA’s Extra-territorial Investigation Efforts into BMW and Volkswagen

James Killick, Marc Israel, Kate Kelliher (White & Case) and Peter Citron (Editor) (White & Case, Belgium)/February 19, 2023February 16, 2023 /Leave a comment

On 8 February 2023, the CAT upheld claims by both BMW and Volkswagen confirming that the CMA cannot compel responses to information requests from companies with no territorial connection to the UK. CMA Investigation In March 2022, the CMA opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct in relation to the recycling of end-of-life vehicles….

Abuse of dominance, European Court of Justice, European Union

EU Court of Justice Clarifies the Scope of the Essential Facilities Doctrine in Lithuanian Railways

Katarzyna Czapracka, Jérémie Jourdan, James Killick, Assimakis Komninos (White & Case) and Peter Citron (Editor) (White & Case, Belgium)/January 21, 2023January 18, 2023 /Leave a comment

On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of the railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law (Bronner), the Court confirmed that the Bronner case law did not apply to the deliberate destruction of State-owned infrastructure…

European Commission, European Union, Foreign subsidies, Regulation

The EU Adopts the Long-Awaited Foreign Subsidies Regulation

James Killick, Jérémie Jourdan, Axel Schulz, Irina Trichkovska (White & Case)/December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 /Leave a comment

On 28 November 2022, the EU adopted the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, giving the European Commission powers to intervene to tackle foreign subsidies distorting competition in the EU internal market. The FSR, due to apply by mid-2023, will have a major impact on companies that engage in M&A and public tenders in the EU, and which…

Abuse of dominance, As Efficient Competitor, Economics, Effects-based, Fundamental rights, General Court of the European Union, Procedures

EU General Court quashes Qualcomm antitrust fine for “exclusivity payments”, and censures the EU Commission for multiple due process and substantive errors

James Killick, Assimakis Komninos, Jérémie Jourdan, Iakovos Sarmas (White & Case)/June 21, 2022June 21, 2022 /Leave a comment

The General Court of the European Union delivered a blow to the European Commission in fully annulling its Qualcomm (exclusivity payments) decision of 2018 and a EUR 997 million fine. Qualcomm v Commission[1] is the first annulment of an Article 102 TFEU decision adopted by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The judgment is notably based on the…

Abuse of dominance, As Efficient Competitor, Burden of Proof, European Union, General Court of the European Union, Rebates, Standard of Proof

EU General Court demands a vigorous effects-based analysis for rebates cases and annuls the European Commission’s Intel decision and the €1.06 billion fine

James Killick, Assimakis Komninos (White & Case) and Peter Citron (Editor) (White & Case, Belgium)/January 27, 2022January 27, 2022 /Leave a comment

On 26 January 2022, the EU’s General Court (GC) annulled the European Commission’s (EC) €1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing a dominant position with its rebate schemes.[1] The judgment demonstrates that the European Courts are prepared to look in detail at evidence and economic analysis in antitrust cases, and will annul EC decisions if…

European Court of Justice, Patent settlements, Pharmaceuticals, Restriction by object

The ECJ’s Lundbeck judgment offers little new on patent settlements but gives birth to an interesting principle: sector inquiries give rise to a duty of diligence

Jérémie Jourdan, James Killick, Assimakis Komninos, Tilman Kuhn (White & Case) and Peter Citron (Editor) (White & Case, Belgium)/March 26, 2021March 26, 2021 /Leave a comment

On 25 March 2021, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) dismissed all the appeals against the European Commission’s decision to fine Lundbeck and several other companies for entering into anti-competitive patent settlement agreements.1 The judgments largely repeat the position taken by the ECJ in its January 2020 Paroxetine judgment (see our alert). They notably confirm…

Digital competition, European Commission, European Union, Ex ante regulation, Market investigations, Structural competition problems

The European Commission eyes the addition of a market investigation tool to its 60-year-old toolbox – but is it a chisel or a sledgehammer?

Assimakis Komninos, Mark Powell, Marc Israel, James Killick, Jacquelyn MacLennan, Kate Kelliher (White & Case)/June 5, 2020June 5, 2020 /Leave a comment

On 2 June 2020, the European Commission published its roadmap on the possible introduction of a ‘new competition tool’ that would allow it to initiate market investigations into perceived structural competition problems, with the ability to impose market-wide remedies on companies. The proposal has obvious parallels to the market investigation tools already in place in…

Abuse of dominance, Excessive pricing, United Kingdom

Authorities have to consider different types of evidence. The UK Court of Appeal broadly upholds the CAT’s judgment in Phenytoin and clarifies “excessive pricing” test

James Killick, Assimakis Komninos (White & Case)/April 2, 2020April 2, 2020 /Leave a comment

Summary On 10 March 2020 the Court of Appeal upheld the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT) quashing of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision that Pfizer and Flynn Pharma (Flynn) had abused their dominant positions in the market by pricing their epilepsy drug unfairly. Among other aspects, the Court of Appeal broadly upheld the CAT’s…

Abuse of dominance, Effects-based, United Kingdom

The CMA Remicade decision: discount schemes and abuse of dominance – effects matter!

James Killick, Assimakis Komninos, Strati Sakellariou-Witt, Axel Schulz (White & Case)/March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 /Leave a comment

Summary On 14 March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to close its investigation into a discount scheme by Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (MSD).[1] The CMA concluded that there were no grounds for it to take action, since MSD’s discount strategy was not likely to limit competition in anticipation of the…