Antitrust

Antitrust refers to a field of economic policy and laws dealing with monopoly and monopolistic practices. Antitrust law or antitrust policy are terms primarily used in the United States, while in many other countries the terms competition law or policy are used. Some countries have utilized the phrases Fair

Trading or Antimonopoly law. The intellectual basis for antitrust economics or policy is the sub-field of industrial organization economics which addresses issues arising from the behaviour of firms operating under different market structure conditions and the effect this has on economic performance. Most antitrust or competition laws have provisions dealing with structure such as mergers, monopoly, dominant market position and concentration, as well as behaviour, such as collusion, price fixing, and predatory pricing.

Source: OECD

Antitrust, Competition, Consumer welfare, Enforcement, Europe, European Commission, European Union, Policy, United States of America

(College of Europe, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The proceedings brought by the European Commission against Google are nearing a – provisional – end with the prospect of a decision making binding on Google a revised set of commitments (see here for the Commission statement and here for the full text of the proposed commitments). Independently of their merits in addressing the Commission’s…

Antitrust, Competition, Consumer welfare, Dominance, Enforcement, Policy

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

On February 11, 2014, the Canadian government included in its federal budget a proposed amendment to the Competition Act to prohibit unjustified price discrimination to reduce the gap between consumer prices in Canada and the United States. The Minister of Finance made clear that the Commissioner of Competition, the head of Canada’s Competition Bureau, would…

Antitrust, Competition, Court of Appeal, Dominance, Enforcement, Market definition, Policy

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

On February 3, 2014, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Competition Tribunal’s 2013 decision dismissing the Commissioner of Competition’s abuse of dominance allegations against the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) and referred the case back to the Tribunal. In so doing, the Court held that the Competition Act’s abuse of dominance provisions could potentially…

Antitrust, Cartels, Competition, Dominance, Enforcement, Investigations, Leniency, Market definition, Mergers, Policy

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

In our annual forecast of the year ahead for Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, the Davies Competition Law and Foreign Investment Group outlines the “Top 10” key issues and trends to watch for this year. 1. A Green Light for Class Actions by Indirect Purchasers The Supreme Court of Canada issued an important…

Antitrust, Competition, Enforcement, Investigations

(Hogan Lovells)/ /Leave a comment

In a move that signals that UK criminal cartel enforcement is set to increase, Peter Nigel Snee appeared on 27 January 2014 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to face charges under the UK’s criminal cartel offence. Mr Snee has been charged under section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002 with “dishonestly agreeing with others to divide…

Antitrust, Cartels, Competition, Enforcement, Germany, Investigations

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

On December 23, 2103, the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published an explanatory note on settlement proceedings in antitrust cases on its website. Since 2007, the FCO has increasingly terminated cases through settlements, so the note came rather late. Unlike the European Commission, the FCO has entered into settlement agreements without a specific regulatory basis and…

Antitrust, Enforcement, General, Policy

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

THE FOLLOWING CHECKLIST WAS AUTHORED BY LYUDMILA (LUDA) NAPOE, SENIOR COUNSEL, WM. WRIGLEY JR. COMPANY AND ERIKA DOUGLAS, DAVIES WARD PHILLIPS & VINEBERG LLP. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS AND NOT OF THEIR RESPECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS. *********************************** Canada’s Competition Bureau, like other competition enforcement agencies, identifies “compliance audits” as one of…

Antitrust, Cartels, Germany

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

The FCO published new fining guidelines on June 25, 2013, which have been applied for several months now. However, the guidelines as well as the recent practice do not provide a lot of guidance. The previous fining guidelines followed a similar methodology as those of the European Commission: the FCO first determined a base amount…

Antitrust

(White & Case, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

On 5 December, the European Commission published a package of measures to reduce the administrative burden of EU merger control, which will apply as of 1 January 2014. The package extends the scope of the simplified procedure for non-problematic cases. This means that more transactions may be notified using the Short Form CO, which will…

Antitrust, Competition, United Kingdom

(St Johns Chambers, United Kingdom)/ /Leave a comment

Private competition litigation is continuing to develop in the United Kingdom. The courts and the Competition Appeal Tribunal are seeing an increase in the number and complexity of follow-on damages actions, often between foreign claimants and/or defendants. In addition, an increasing number of “standalone” competition disputes between private parties are being brought in the courts,…