European Commission

Abuse of dominance, Competition policy, European Commission, European Union, Exclusionary Abuse, Guidance, Presumptions

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The European Commission has published for public consultation its long-awaited draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses (draft Guidelines). The draft Guidelines aim at making it faster and easier for the Commission to pursue abuse of dominance cases, in particular by classifying a number of practices as “presumptively harmful”. This represents a marked departure from the 2008…

European Commission, European Union, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Guidance

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, or FSR, is intended to prevent or remedy distortions of the EU internal market caused by “foreign” – meaning non-EU – subsidies benefitting companies active in the EU.  The FSR draws on EU merger control, State aid and trade law, but it also introduces new legal concepts and procedures not…

European Commission, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation

, (Hogan Lovells)/ /Leave a comment

It was only a matter of time before the European Commission (“EC“) launched its first ever in-depth investigation of an M&A transaction under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR“). On 10 June 2024, that time came: The EC referred the acquisition of the Czech telecom operator PPF Telecom Group B.V. (“PPF“) by the Emirates Telecommunications Group…

Art. 22, European Commission, Guidance, Innovation, Market definition, Merger control, Merger regulation, Merger Thresholds, Sustainability

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

Many of the most challenging transactions reviewed under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) in recent years involved their likely effects on non-price competitive factors: innovation; quality and product differentiation; data protection and privacy; sustainability; and capacity and reliability of supply.  These topics are discussed briefly, or not at all, in the Commission’s guidelines on the…

Apple, Designation Decision, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The DMA seeks to capture gatekeeper conduct. For that, the regulation applies to those targets of the regulation satisfying the legal category of a gatekeeper. If an undertaking is not a gatekeeper as per a designation decision issued by the European Commission (EC), then it will not remain captured by the regulatory instrument. In September…

Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, European Union

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) entails a change in the narrative of the punitive framework applied to digital dominant undertakings under EU competition law. At least, that’s what the European’s digital strategy proposed it to be. The failure of antitrust followed a new paradigm in applying per se rules to gatekeepers, based on cooperative-like mechanisms…

European Commission, European Union, Labour market, No-poach-agreement, Restriction by object

(ZESA Attorney Partnership)/ /Leave a comment

On 3 May, the EC published a policy brief on labor markets. The existing legal framework allows the EC and EU national competition authorities to take decisive action against anticompetitive agreements in labor markets. Wage-fixing and no-poach agreements are detrimental to competition in labor markets and should generally be qualified as restrictions by object. Wage-fixing…

Austria, Competition proceedings, Confidentiality, Damages, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Digitisation, Disclosure, Enforcement, European Commission, Evidence, Germany, National competition authorities (NCAs), Procedures, Proportionality, Regulation

(University of Vienna, Austria) and (University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) introduced an innovative framework aimed at promoting contestability and fairness in digital markets. In addition to imposing a multitude of substantial obligations on gatekeepers, the DMA incorporates a sophisticated and multi-faceted enforcement system. The European Commission assumes the primary role as the enforcer of the DMA, while the Member States…

China, European Champions, European Commission, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation

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The FSR and public procurement The primary objective of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is to address the influence of foreign subsidies that may distort the integrity of the EU’s internal market. This encompasses scenarios where recipients gain an unfair advantage enabling them to secure public procurement contracts within the EU at the expense of…

Apps, Designation Decision, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, Equal treatment, European Commission, Fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND), Google, Self-preferencing

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /2 Comments

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) became entirely applicable on 7 March 2024. By then, the gatekeepers issued their compliance reports documenting their technical solutions and implementation of the DMA’s provisions under Article 11 DMA as well as their reports on consumer profiling techniques as required under Article 15 DMA (see here). I will be covering…