The new European Commission (the “Commission”) has an ambitious mandate, with economic growth and competitiveness at its heart. On 29 January 2025, the Commission published a Communication entitled “A Competitiveness Compass for the EU” (“Compass”) to guide its work for the next five years. The Compass outlines a strategic framework aimed at enhancing the competitiveness…
The ECN+ Directive had to be transposed into the national laws by 4 February 2021. Only five Member States (Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Sweden, and the Netherlands) adopted their national implementing measures in time. On the date of this blog-post, Estonia remains as the only Member State that has not yet transposed the ECN+ Directive (see…
In June 2024, amendments to the Canadian Competition Act (Act) garnered significant attention (and often, criticism) from both business and legal communities in Canada for the introduction of new “greenwashing” provisions. The new provisions explicitly require businesses to substantiate claims made to Canadian consumers relating to the benefits of the business, business activities, products and/or…
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a suite of guidance documents that set out how it intends to exercise its powers under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act (Act). The Act, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, grants the CMA significant new powers and procedural flexibility. The CMA guidance…
Over the past months, various discussions and debates have taken place concerning the future path of EU competition policy. Central to these discussions was the Draghi Report calling to revamp the EU’s competitiveness and launch a new industrial policy. Some of these discussions were described as reviving “old Europe” mindset and proposing policy directions that…
With the new European Commission (Commission) confirmed, European Union (EU) competition policy will be directed through 2029 by Teresa Ribera Rodríguez as the Executive Vice President (EVP) for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition from December 2024. EVP Ribera would have her hands full simply continuing the work started by outgoing EVP Vestager, including the…
The Draghi Report proposes substantial reform in the area of competition law, notably offering a critical assessment of recent policies implemented by the European Commission in merger control and antitrust enforcement. The Report will serve as a potential blueprint for Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, the Competition Commissioner-Designate and the European Commission to shape and execute competition…
Introduction Following the CJEU Illumina/Grail ruling the case here is made for the Commission to negotiate with the national competition authorities (NCAs) to adopt a common approach to dealing with so-called ‘killer acquisitions’ both substantively and procedurally. The concept here would be for the Commission and the NCAs to negotiate a common network notice which…
Executive Vice President Vestager’s momentous tenure as Commissioner responsible for EU competition policy is nearing its end. EVP Vestager will leave her successor with a full agenda, including the first full-scale revamp of the Commission’s basic antitrust procedural rules in over 20 years, finalizing the controversial guidelines on exclusionary abuses under Article 102 TFEU and…
Introduction In the past two years, the Czech Competition Authority (CCA) added several new tools to its arsenal for competition enforcement. This year the CCA and the Government of the Czech Republic proposed another significant set of updates to the Czech Act No. 143/2001 Coll., on the Protection of Competition (the Act). Arguably, the most…
