Competition enforcement

Anticompetitive agreements, Competition enforcement, Competition policy, European Commission, Ex ante regulatory assessment, Guidelines, Labour market

(Utrecht Law School)/ /1 Comment

On September 29th 2022, the Commission published Guidelines on the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons (hereinafter: the Guidelines). The first draft of this document was released almost a year ago as part of a package including a proposed Directive on platform work. The Guidelines,…

Antitrust, Apple, Big data, Competition enforcement, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Dominance, Enforcement, Germany, Online platforms

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

In January 2021, the latest reform of the German competition law (“ARC”) entered into force, including significant new rules regarding digital platform markets.  These include new powers for the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) under Section 19a ARC regarding digital gatekeepers with paramount cross-market significance for competition (for more details on the new norm, see here). A…

Competition enforcement, Competition law, Dawn raids, ECN, Investigations, Sweden

, (Mannheimer Swartling)/ /Leave a comment

Major amendments to competition legislation are expected to add more bite to the bark of Sweden’s antitrust watchdog. On 1 March 2021, the Swedish Competition Authority (SCA) gained a number of new powers and introduced some related changes to its routines.  Specific to Sweden but with broader resonance in real terms, this is a good…

Abuse of dominance, Antitrust, Cartels, Competition, Competition enforcement, Competition Law 2020, Competition policy, Concentrations, COVID-19, Damages, Digital competition, Germany, Merger control

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

Despite the pandemic, 2020 has been a very busy year for the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) and courts in the field of competition law in Germany.  The following is merely a selection of interesting developments.  It does not include the recently adopted reform of the Competition Act, which merits its own blog. Generally, the FCO…

Abuse of dominance, Competition enforcement, Competition law, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Germany, Legislation

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

The government’s draft for new competition rules, including on (digital) platforms, published in September 2020 (see here) includes a provision specifically aimed at powerful digital gatekeepers, draft Section 19a ARC.  The proposal was debated in parliament on November 25, 2020, is largely expected to be adopted more or less in its current form and to…

Anticompetitive agreements, Competition enforcement, European Court of Justice, France, National competition authorities (NCAs), Public procurement

, (Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /1 Comment

On 25 November 2020, the French Competition Authority (FCA) announced that it was amending its decision-making practice regarding responses to calls for tenders by subsidiaries of the same group. Up until now, the FCA considered that it was unlawful for subsidiaries of the same group to submit separate tenders in the same public procurement procedure…

Competition enforcement, India, Tax

(Caim Consulting) and (Competition Advisory Services (India) LLP )/ /1 Comment

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the already struggling Indian economy and the sky-high growth in the cartel cases in the country comes as no surprise. However, given the current economic fallout, the Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’) has lately shown leniency to the companies involved in the cartel cases. The Indian fair-trade…