Enforcement

Competition enforcement, Enforcement, United States of America

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On July 14, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission, announced the withdrawal of two antitrust policy statements related to enforcement in healthcare markets: Statements of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care, published in August 1996, and Statement of Antitrust Enforcement Policy Regarding Accountable Care Organizations Participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program from October 2011. This…

Ancillary, Anticompetitive agreements, Burden of Proof, Competition enforcement, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Germany, References for a preliminary ruling, Regulation, Restriction by object, Sport

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Sport itself is all about the competition on the pitch. However, sports federations’ actions and regulations have come increasingly into the focus of competition watchdogs and courts worldwide. A well-known example is the dispute over the establishment of the European Super League. As the recently announced merger between golf associations PGA and L.I.V. demonstrates, competition…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Advocate General, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany, References for a preliminary ruling

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /2 Comments

On 4 July 2023, the Court of Justice resolved the conundrum around the potential interaction between data protection regulation and competition law following the legal opera that started in 2019 with the German competition authority’s case against Facebook/Meta’s processing activities (for a summary of the case, see here). The ruling hops onto Advocate General Rantos’…

Czech Republic, Enforcement, Enlargement, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Memorandum of Understanding, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Rule of Law, Slovakia, Ukraine

(University of Amsterdam) and (State University of Trade and Economics and Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition)/ /Leave a comment

In April 2023, a Memorandum was signed between the competition authorities of eight Member States (Poland, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia) and the competition authorities of the newest EU candidate countries Moldova and Ukraine for regional cooperation in the field of competition policy. The main objective of this initiative was to promote…

Anticompetitive agreements, Enforcement, European Union, Sustainability

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium) and , (Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /1 Comment

On 10 January 2023, the European Commission (Commission) published Draft guidelines on the application of a new EU antitrust exemption for sustainability agreements involving producers of agricultural products (the Draft Guidelines).  Article 210a of Regulation (EU) 1308/2013 (CMO Regulation), which entered into effect in early 2022, exempts restrictions of competition in agreements that are indispensable…

Competition enforcement, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany, Privacy, Tying and Bundling

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The wheels of the German competition authority’s enforcement of its dedicated rules on digital markets have started to turn (on the technical and substantive aspects of Section 19a GWB, see previous posts here and here). According to the recently introduced rules, the Bundeskartellamt first formally determines that an undertaking is of paramount significance for competition…

Enforcement, Germany, Information exchange, Investigations, Switzerland

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New Cooperation Agreement On November 1, 2022, Switzerland and Germany signed an administrative agreement on cooperation between their competition authorities (“Agreement”). The Agreement is expected to enter into force in September 2023 at the earliest because the Swiss Federal Assembly still has to approve the Agreement. The ratifying German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate…

Collective Redress, Damages, Disclosure, Effects-based, Enforcement, European Union, Evidence, Fair Fund, International Law Talk, Leniency, Liability, National competition authorities (NCAs), Podcast, Private actions, Private enforcement, Procedures, Standard of Proof

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Two Germans meet in Graz to discuss private enforcement of competition law in the EU. Tune in for the first in-person interview of the competition edition of the International Law Talk Podcast. On a warm summer day in June, I interviewed Thomas Thiede on our favorite topic: private enforcement of competition law and its newest…

Competition Law 2021, Damages, Digital economy, Dominance, Enforcement, Germany, Horizontal, Judicial review, Litigation, Merger control, Online platforms, Price fixing, Rebates, Uncategorized

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

The following is a selection of some of the most important developments in German competition law and policy in 2021.  It has been a busy year for the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”), inter alia because the new rules for digital companies took effect.  The following covers cases under these new rules, abuse of dominance, merger…

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…