Jurisdiction

Competition enforcement, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany, Privacy, Tying and Bundling

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The wheels of the German competition authority’s enforcement of its dedicated rules on digital markets have started to turn (on the technical and substantive aspects of Section 19a GWB, see previous posts here and here). According to the recently introduced rules, the Bundeskartellamt first formally determines that an undertaking is of paramount significance for competition…

Abuse of dominance, Canada, Collusion, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Joint ventures, Merger control, Pricing

, , , (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

On November 17, 2022, Canada’s federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry formally announced that the federal government is launching a comprehensive review of the Competition Act (Act) and Canadian competition policy. This announcement follows through on the Minister’s previous indications that significant reforms were in the works, and comes after the government enacted more…

Anticompetitive agreements, Information exchange, Trade associations, Türkiye

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Introduction The Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has rendered several decisions in recent years concerning the exchange of competitively sensitive information. A significant number of these decisions have involved negative clearance/exemption applications made to the TCA by undertakings seeking to lawfully exchange information among themselves. In this regard, the Turkish Construction Equipment Distributors and Manufacturers Association[1]…

Canada, Foreign investment, State owned enterprise (SOE)

, , (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

The Canadian government announced a new policy on October 28, 2022 (the Policy) under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) governing investments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Canada’s critical minerals sector. The government followed the issuance of the Policy with an announcement on November 2, 2022, that it had ordered three Chinese investors to divest their…

Abuse of dominance, Belgium, Digital Markets Act, Ex post regulatory assessment, Killer acquisitions, Merger notification, Merger regulation, Mergers, National competition authorities (NCAs)

(Leiden University)/ /1 Comment

The impressive acceleration in mergers and acquisitions, combined with the promotion of disruptive business strategies, has put the ‘regulatory gap’[1] paradox at the heart of the current European merger control policy debate. While the current EU merger control regime risks fragmentation with the advent of the new Guidance on Referral Mechanism and the Digital Markets…

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…

Abuse of dominance, Interim measures, National competition authorities (NCAs), Patent settlements, Spain

(Universidad CEU San Pablo)/ /Leave a comment

On 21 October 2022 the Spanish CNMC imposed a fine of 38.9 million EUR on MERCK SHARP & DOHME DE ESPAÑA, S.A. and its parent company MSD HUMAN HEALTH HOLDING, B.V. (hereafter jointly ‘MSD’) for abusive practices in the Spanish market of contraceptive rings. Their breach consisted in having made baseless court claims with the…

Abuse of dominance, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Türkiye

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Introduction This blog post will give an overview of the draft amendment (the “Draft Amendment”) to Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the “Law No. 4054”). The key points of the Draft Amendment concern: Introducing definitions of core platform services into Law No. 4054 and allowing the possibility to introduce regulations on the…

Abuse of dominance, Advocate General, European Court of Justice, European Union, Merger control, Merger Thresholds, Mergers

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

Advocate General Juliane Kokott has proposed that the EU Court of Justice should find that competition authorities have the power to apply Article 102 TFEU to corporate transactions that are not reportable and test under that provision whether the transaction as such constitutes an abuse of a dominant position. However, a competition authority cannot in…