The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) gives the European Commission (the Commission) broad powers to investigate and remedy distortions of the European Union (EU) internal market caused by non-EU subsidies and subjects significant acquisitions and public tenders to a new EU notification and approval regime. The Commission’s publication of an implementing regulation (the Implementing Regulation)…
On 1 June 2023, the European Commission published its new Horizontal Cooperation Guidelines (HCG) with a view to providing improved guidance for competitors wishing to cooperate, including in areas not previously covered in the 2012 HCG. One such new area is specific to the telecommunications sector and covers network sharing agreements (NSAs). This analysis sets…
The European Commission (“EC”) has published its final revised Horizontal Cooperation Guidelines and adopted new R&D and Specialisation Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs). The EC’s aim is to provide more guidance for competitors wishing to cooperate in areas such as R&D and production, but also in sustainability initiatives. What are the EU rules on horizontal…
Google’s behaviour in the advertising technology sector (Ad Tech) is under attack or, at the very least, it is being intensely scrutinised on both sides of the Atlantic. Google is already subject to several antitrust suits in the U.S. lodged against it by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and individual States. In the European Union,…
The Commission has followed a Long and Winding carbon-free Road since only a few years ago when it seemed to favour the Status Quo and promoted a robust competitive process as the best way to guarantee sustainable outcomes for consumers. The final chapter on Sustainability Agreements in the EU Horizontal Guidelines clearly shows a Commission…
On 6 June 2023, the European Commission launched for public consultation its Template for Reporting pursuant to Article 11 of the DMA (the Template). The Template builds upon the substance of Article 11 of the DMA, which mandates designated gatekeepers (yet to come in early September): i) to provide the Commission with a report describing…
On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (‘Commission’) adopted the new Horizontal Guidelines (together with the new Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations), which contain a new dedicated chapter for the assessment of sustainability agreements. The new Horizontal Guidelines will enter into force following their publication in the Official Journal of the EU (while the new Horizontal…
The DMA will start to apply on March 2024. Starting on the 2nd of May, the gatekeepers have a maximum of two months to notify their gatekeeper status to the European Commission (EC). The European Commission (EC) has acquired the compromise to make the process of the DMA’s future implementation, monitoring and oversight of compliance as…
The European Commission (the Commission) has launched a project to codify EU law on the application of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to exclusionary abuses of dominant positions, such as exclusive dealing, tying and bundling, predatory pricing, refusals to supply and margin squeezes. The Commission published a…
Last 9 December, the European Commission issued its first draft implementing regulation for the DMA setting out the practical details surrounding the procedures around the gatekeeper’s designation (see the overview of the draft here). The feedback period surrounding the draft finished on 9 January 2023. On 14 April, the European Commission made public the first…
