European Union

Antitrust, Digital economy, European Commission, European Court of Auditors, European Union, Merger control

(Loyens & Loeff, Netherlands) and (Loyens & Loeff)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Auditors believes that the introduction of new instruments should go hand in hand with stricter enforcement of existing instruments In a Special Report published on 19 November 2020, the European Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) makes a plea for more stringent enforcement of EU competition policy. The Special Report comes at a…

Brexit, European Union, Merger control, United Kingdom

(Baker McKenzie, Belgium)/ /1 Comment

On 2 December 2020, the European Commission published a Notice to Stakeholders on Brexit and EU competition law.[1]  It essentially reflects the UK position as set out in CMA guidance published on 1 December 2020.[2] These papers are equivalent to the divorce papers governing the children’s custody. Who has the kids and when over the…

Data protection, Digital economy, European Union, Regulation

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /1 Comment

On November 25, 2020, the European Commission (EC) published its proposed Data Governance Regulation (the DGR), which will create a new legal framework to encourage the development of a European single market for data.  The DGR, proposed in the EC’s February 2020 Digital Strategy, is the first of a wave of regulatory and antitrust reforms…

European Commission, European Court of Auditors, European Union, Merger control, Merger fees

(Baker McKenzie, Belgium)/ /1 Comment

The European Court of Auditors’ Special Report published on 19 November 2020 is an interesting read for a dark COVID winter evening: “The Commission’s EU merger control and antitrust proceedings: a need to scale up market oversight“.[1] In respect of merger control, the Report (and the European Commission’s Response to the ECA contained in it)…

Competition policy, European Commission, European Union

(European University Institute)/ /Leave a comment

Spotlight on Europe’s ‘strategic autonomy’ The calls for Europe’s ‘strategic autonomy’ or ‘strategic sovereignty’ have been gaining increasing traction in Brussels policy circles over the past few years. With its origins in the fields of defence and security, the idea of Europe’s autonomy has started to resonate beyond these areas, extending to foreign and economic…

Competition law, European Union, Restriction by object

(University of Copenhagen)/ /Leave a comment

What to consider a restriction of competition under Article 101 (1) is complex. However, the text of Article 101 (1) refers to agreements that are anti-competitive by object or by effect. A segregation utilized in early cases such as Consten and Grundig and Société Technique Minière. Both from 1966 and both involving the appraisal under…

Competition proceedings, European Court of Human Rights, European Court of Justice, European Union, Evidence, Witness

(Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On 22 October 2020, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed in Silver Plastics that the General Court (GC) is not bound to accept a request for the examination of witnesses when it has sufficiently proven that an undertaking took part in an anti-competitive agreement.   Executive Summary The ECJ has confirmed that there is…

Competition proceedings, European Court of Justice, European Union, Facebook, Fundamental rights, General Court of the European Union, Investigations, Privacy, Request for information (RFI)

(Skadden) and (Clifford Chance LLP, Italy)/ /Leave a comment

In the context of ongoing antitrust investigations into Facebook Inc.’s (‘Facebook’) data-related practices (AT.40628) and Facebook marketplace (AT.40684), on 13 March 2020 the European Commission (‘Commission’) issued two formal requests for information (‘RFIs’), requiring the company to produce a large number of internal documents. Facebook challenged the RFIs before the General Court of the European…

Consultation, Digital economy, European Commission, European Union, VBER, Vertical agreements, Vertical restraints

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

On 23 October 2020, the European Commission (EC) published its inception impact assessment of policy options for a potential revision of the EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and accompanying Vertical Guidelines for consultation. This inception impact assessment will be followed by a more detailed impact assessment that the EC will publish for public consultation…

Digital markets, Digital Services Act, European Commission, European Union, New Competition Tool, Platforms

(Loyens & Loeff, Netherlands) and , (Loyens & Loeff)/ /Leave a comment

After two rounds of public consultations that ended 8 September 2020, the European Commission (‘Commission’) appears to be on track and make its proposals for new enforcement powers more concrete. The Commission intends to adopt its two definitive legislative proposals before the end of 2020. In this post, we take a look at where the…