Investigations

Consumer protection, European Court of Justice, Investigations, Italy, National competition authorities (NCAs)

(University of Roma Tre) and (University of Basilicata)/ /Leave a comment

Background On September 5, the Advocate General Pikamäe is expected to deliver an opinion in the Caronte (C-511/23) and Trenitalia (C-510/23) cases. Despite the different legal bases, the cases revolve around the same question, that is whether competition law and consumer protection rules, read in the light of the effectiveness of administrative action, preclude national…

AI, Dawn raids, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Investigations

, , , (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

In light of recent information about new probes under the DMA and the DSA, and the growing interest in enforcement of the draft AI Act, we decided to explore what investigatory powers are available to the European Commission and local authorities under these regulations, and more specifically how the enforcing authorities can conduct dawn raids…

Abuse of dominance, Commitments, Effects-based, European Commission, European Union, Investigations, Market definition, Tying and Bundling, Unfair trading practices

(Leiden University)/ /Leave a comment

Factual background During the summer of 2020, news came out about a claim made by Slack against Microsoft for abusing its dominance by tying Teams to the Microsoft and Office 365 software packages. The claim at the time was that Microsoft had been forcing millions of users to install Teams and denied them the possibility…

Amazon, General Court of the European Union, Investigations, Request for information (RFI)

, (Mayer Brown)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Like many competition authorities, the European Commission (“Commission”) has far-reaching powers to ask for huge amounts of information for its competition law investigations (see Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, Articles 18 to 21). These days it is no longer just hard copy documents being asked for, but significant amounts of electronic data in specified formats…

Abuse of dominance, Chile, Digital competition, Digital markets, Investigations, Latin America, Market definition

(Universidad Diego Portales)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Latin America as well as Chile, have developed a nascent practice in digital markets in the last years. According to a recent survey, between 2015 and 2023 Latin American competition authorities have led 99 investigations, including enforcement activity (both regarding cartel and unilateral conduct) and advocacy. In the case of Chile, the competition authority…

Brexit, Competition and Markets Authority, Investigations, United Kingdom

, , (White & Case) and (White & Case, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

On 8 February 2023, the CAT upheld claims by both BMW and Volkswagen confirming that the CMA cannot compel responses to information requests from companies with no territorial connection to the UK.   CMA Investigation In March 2022, the CMA opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct in relation to the recycling of end-of-life vehicles….

Dawn raids, Investigations, Türkiye

, , , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

The Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) has rendered a number of decisions, particularly in recent years, on whether on-site inspections have been hindered or complicated. These include two recent decisions on D-Market Elektronik Hizmetler ve Ticaret A.Ş. (“Hepsiburada“), one of the largest e-marketplaces in Turkey. In the first of these decisions, the TCA examined whether the…

Enforcement, Germany, Information exchange, Investigations, Switzerland

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Investigations, Italy, Killer acquisitions, Mergers, Online platforms, Settlement

, (Portolano Cavallo)/ /Leave a comment

On August 5, 2022, the Italian Parliament adopted the 2021 Annual Law for Market and Competition (the “2021 Competition Law”), [1] the aim of which is to adapt the Italian system to EU competition rules and policies and to improve and liberalize markets affected by regulatory or economic barriers. The law reflects most of the…

Confidentiality, ECN, Fines, Investigations, Parental liability, Portugal

, (DLA Piper Portugal)/ /Leave a comment

On 16 September 2022 came into force the amendments to the Portuguese Competition Act introduced by Law no. 17/2022, of 17 August which also modifies the bylaws of the Competition Authority (PCA). This is the third amendment to the 2012 Competition Act, and the first amendment to the PCA bylaws. Law no. 17/2022 transposes the…