75th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Friday, May 22, 2015 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The E-Commerce Sector Inquiry: What, Why and How? Thomas KRAMLER, DG COMP, European Commission James WEBBER, Shearman & Sterling Moderator: Damien GERARD, GCLC Programme: 12:00 – 12:30: Sandwich lunch and socializing 12:30 – 13:30: Presentations and…

In January 2015 the European Commission announced its intention to appeal a judgment of the Belgian Commercial Court which dismissed the Commission’s claim for €6 million of damages against Otis, KONE, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp. The Court’s decision illuminates the importance of changes brought about by the recently implemented Damages Directive. Background On 27 February 2007…

10th GCLC Annual Conference Thursday-Friday, November 6-7, 2014 “10 YEARS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATION 1/2003: CHALLENGES AND REFORM” This conference is dedicated to Regulation 1/2003 and its first ten years of implementation. It explores the various issues that arise over the life-cycle of cases falling within the scope of Article 101 and 102 TFUE. This…

Inductive reasoning is sometimes explained by using either the ‘duck test’ (“if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”) or the ‘elephant test’ (“it is difficult to describe, but you know it when you see it”). In EU competition law, it sometimes…

Just over a year ago, I wrote (rather extensively) on the European Commission’s public consultation entitled “Towards more effective EU Merger Control” in which the Commission proposed to (i) expand its powers to review non-controlling minority interests and (ii) streamline the case referral system between the European Commission and NCAs (see here). Our regular readers…

9th GCLC Evening Policy Talk Monday, September 29, 2014 from 18:45 PM to 20:30 PM The Intel Judgment and the Administrability of the Effects-based Approach Professor Massimo MOTTA, Chief Economist DG COMP Programme: 18:45 – 19:00: Registration 19:00 – 19:45: Talk 19:45 – 20:00: Question time 20:00 – 20:30: Cocktail Location: The Hotel 38 Boulevard…

70th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Tuesday, July 15, 2014 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The New Wave of Concentrations in the Telecommunications Sector: Merger Control Issues and Remedies Michele PIERGIOVANNI, DG COMP Thomas WESSELY, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Programme: 12:00 – 12:30: Sandwich lunch and socializing 12:30 – 13:30: Presentations and…

69th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Thursday, June 26, 2014 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The Revised Competition Regime for Technology Transfer Agreements (TTBER): Policy and Practice Luc PEEPERKORN & Anna VERNET, DG COMP Jérôme VAN BIERVLIET, VIB Life Sciences Research Institute Programme: 12:00 – 12:30: Sandwich lunch and socializing 12:30…

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…

On 8 October 2013, it was announced that the nuclear industry would not be included in the European Commission’s draft Guidelines on environmental and energy aid for 2014-2020 as anticipated. Earlier in the year, a leaked copy of the draft Guidelines (which the author has read) set out six pages on how the Commission would…