Jurisdiction

Commitments, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Competition enforcement, Judicial review, Jurisdiction, Sport

, (Meysan Partners)/ /Leave a comment

On 16 January 2023, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (the “COMESA” or the “Common Market”) Competition Appeals Board (the “Appeals Board”) published its seminal decision upholding the commitments provided by the Confédération Africaine de Football (the “CAF”) in relation to contracts for the commercialization of CAF’s media and marketing rights (the “Intermediation…

Competition Law 2022, Competition policy, Slovenia

(Linklaters LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Year at a glance 2022 brought a major legislative overhaul, with the Slovenian parliament adopting a new Competition Act (“Competition Act”; sl. Zakon o preprečevanju omejevanja konkurence 2). While turnover thresholds remained unchanged, the Competition Act introduced the much-awaited simplified notification procedure (akin to Short Form CO). Despite the inflationary environment and raising interest rates,…

Damages, Jurisdiction, Private actions, Private enforcement, Procedures, Spain, Stand-alone action

(Suderow Fernández)/ /Leave a comment

Over the last five years, mass litigation in the field of antitrust in Spain has rapidly increased. The so-called “Trucks Cartel Litigation” has generated thousands of judgements and dozens of referrals to the CJEU. These judgements and referrals have allowed national courts and the CJEU to clarify several legal questions, such as the temporal application…

Abuse of dominance, Türkiye, Unfair competition, Unfair practices, United Kingdom

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

In recent years, competition authorities around the world have been scrutinising new types of behaviour that might be deemed abusive within the context of antitrust laws. Although those relating to digital markets receive the most attention, not a day passes by without a surprising decision announced by the authorities or competent courts. The decision of…

Merger control, Merger notification, Merger Thresholds, Mergers, Türkiye

(ICR Economic Research)/ /Leave a comment

In Turkey, a Phase II review takes 228 days on average, almost eight months from the day of merger notification. Although the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has prohibited only five proposed transactions during its 25-year tenure, both behavioural (11 cases) and structural remedies (15 cases) were imposed. The TCA conducted merger simulations in four cases,…

Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Spain

, (Pérez-Llorca, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Background It has become usual in Spain’s FDI system for reforms to be introduced by measures formally unrelated to FDI. The latest reform is no exception and Articles 61 and 62 of Royal Decree Law 20/2022, of 27 December, addressing the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, supporting the reconstruction of the Island…

Abuse of dominance, As Efficient Competitor, Economics, European Court of Justice, European Union, Exclusive dealing, Italy, National competition authorities (NCAs), National court, References for a preliminary ruling

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

On 19 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice, answering questions from the Italian Council of State, confirmed that the Intel effects-based approach applies also to exclusive dealing practices and held that competition authorities must duly examine economic evidence produced by dominant undertakings. The court also held that, under certain narrow circumstances, conduct implemented by…

Argentina, Competition Law 2022, Competition policy, Merger control, Price fixing

(Allende & Brea)/ /Leave a comment

General considerations During 2022 there have been no changes regarding the competition law since it was last enacted in 2018. The bill approved by the Senate in February 2021 amending certain aspects of the law, was not discussed at the House of Deputies during 2022 and is expected to lose parliamentary status in February 2023….

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Facebook, Germany, Google, Privacy, Regulation

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Last 23 December 2022, the Bundeskartellamt, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), sent a statement of objections (SOO) to Google regarding its data processing terms. This SOO follows the Bundeskartellamt’s prior designation as an undertaking with paramount significance for competition across markets under the German DMA-like provision of Section 19a GWB. Looking at the SOO and…

Abuse of dominance, European Court of Justice, European Union

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

On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of the railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law (Bronner), the Court confirmed that the Bronner case law did not apply to the deliberate destruction of State-owned infrastructure…