Digital markets

Competition law, Concentrations, Digital markets, Ex ante regulation, Joint ventures, Mergers, Netherlands, Online platforms, Uncategorized

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On 20 May 2020 the Dutch competition authority (“ACM”) conditionally cleared a new joint venture between transport company Pon Netherlands B.V. (“Pon”) and Dutch rail operator NS Groep N.V. (“NS”) creating a Mobility as a Service (“MaaS”) platform. The case was referred to the ACM by the European Commission (“Commission”) under Article 9 of…

Abuse of dominance, Antitrust, Big data, Canada, Competition law, Competition policy, Digital competition, Digital markets, Digitisation, E-commerce, E-communications, Enforcement, Merger control, Merger regulation, Mergers, Minority shareholding

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

The Davies Forecast of Top 5 Trends and Issues for Canadian Competition Law in 2020 Jim Dinning, Anita Banicevic and Mark Katz Here is Davies’ annual forecast of Canadian competition law developments for the year ahead. 1. FOCUS ON THE DIGITAL ECONOMY Given the Competition Bureau’s stated priorities during the tenure of current Commissioner of…

Competition, Digital markets, Digitisation, Netherlands, Online platforms

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /1 Comment

Introduction In 2019 several studies have been published and discussions took place about digitalisation, online platforms and competition law. Many of us will probably have read the so-called Crémer, Furman, Stigler, and Lear-reports. The Netherlands did not lag behind. The Dutch government published amongst others a vision on data sharing between businesses and an updated…

Digital markets, Facebook, Merger regulation, Whatsapp

(Mergers and Acquisitions Division, COMESA Competition Commission)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Most Competition Authorities the world-over that are involved in ex-ante or ex-post merger review process use tools that are in some way universally accepted. This is because these tools have been developed and tested over time. Some of these tools include the merger notification thresholds for determining nexus, the market definition tools to determine…

Abuse of dominance, Digital markets, E-commerce, Enforcement, Germany

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /1 Comment

On July 17, 2019, the German Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office, “FCO”) terminated its dominance probe into Amazon’s business terms towards sellers on its marketplace after Amazon agreed to various changes, see press release here here. Amazon will implement the changes within 30 days, not only in Germany, but for all of its marketplaces in Europe,…

Competition law, Court of Appeal, Digital markets, Germany, Online platforms, Vertical restraints

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /1 Comment

On June 4, 2019, the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal quashed the decision of the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) prohibiting Booking.com to operate so-called narrow most favored nation (MFN) clauses (or best price clauses) on its hotel booking platform with hotels in Germany, see press release here.  It thereby set a (preliminary) end to a long saga…

Abuse of dominance, Competition law, Digital markets, Netherlands

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

After Google has been fined several times for breach of (EU) competition rules the last couple of years, it might now be Apple’s turn. Last month (March 2019), Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission. The Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (“ACM”) immediately responded by stating that ACM is finalizing its…

Digital markets, Enforcement, European Union

, (ByrneWallace)/ /Leave a comment

Debate in the competition law community has intensified around the issue of enforcement in digital markets in recent months with (yet another) significant antitrust fine being levied against Google,[1]Amount of actual fine may vary the Bundeskartellamt’s Facebook decision, and (most recently) the European Commission’s Report on Competition policy for the digital era.[2]http://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/reports/kd0419345enn.pdf The emergence of…