Jurisdiction

Competition law, Concentrations, Digital markets, Ex ante regulation, Joint ventures, Mergers, Netherlands, Online platforms, Uncategorized

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On 20 May 2020 the Dutch competition authority (“ACM”) conditionally cleared a new joint venture between transport company Pon Netherlands B.V. (“Pon”) and Dutch rail operator NS Groep N.V. (“NS”) creating a Mobility as a Service (“MaaS”) platform. The case was referred to the ACM by the European Commission (“Commission”) under Article 9 of…

European Commission, European Union, Subsidies, White Paper

, (Kirkland & Ellis) and (Kirkland & Ellis, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

1.  Overview On 17 June 2020, the European Commission (“EC”) issued a White Paper consulting on “Levelling the Playing Field as regards Foreign Subsidies”. These are major new proposals to protect EU companies against perceived unfair advantage from companies benefitting from subsidies from non-EU States. Countries such as China and Russia have already reacted to…

European Union, Four-to-three Merger, Merger control, Merger regulation, Telecommunications

, (Kirkland & Ellis) and (Kirkland & Ellis, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

By Paula Riedel, Thomas Wilson, Athina Van Melkebeke (Kirkland & Ellis)/12 June 2020 In May 2016, the European Commission (“Commission”) blocked CK Hutchison’s (“Hutchison”) £10.25 billion acquisition of Telefónica UK (“O2”).[1] The Commission had previously cleared a series of “4-to-3” telecoms mergers across Europe, subject to increasingly far-reaching remedies.[2] Specific features of the UK mobile…

Competition law, Concentrations, Merger control, Merger notification, Netherlands, Telecommunications, Uncategorized

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On 19 May 2020, the Act against undesired control in the telecom sector (“Act“) was adopted by the Dutch Parliament. The Act introduces a notification requirement applicable to anyone who has the intention to acquire ‘a controlling interest’ in a ‘telecom party’ if such interest results in ‘relevant influence’ in the telecom sector. If…

Digital competition, European Commission, European Union, Ex ante regulation, Market investigations, Structural competition problems

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

On 2 June 2020, the European Commission published its roadmap on the possible introduction of a ‘new competition tool’ that would allow it to initiate market investigations into perceived structural competition problems, with the ability to impose market-wide remedies on companies. The proposal has obvious parallels to the market investigation tools already in place in…

Türkiye, Unfair prices

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Last month, a law package to tackle the social and economic challenges that coronavirus pandemic cause was introduced via the Act No. 7244 on Reducing the Effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak on Economic and Social Life and Amendments to Certain Acts (“Act No. 7244“)[1]. Among other regulatory and protectionist measures, the Act No….

Abuse of dominance, Double jeopardy, Ne bis in idem, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The Ankara Regional Administrative Court’s 8th Administrative Chamber (“Regional Court”) recently annulled the decision of the Ankara 2nd Administrative Court (“Administrative Court”)[1], in which a lawsuit against the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) Mey İçki-2 decision[2] was dismissed[3]. The Regional Court’s decision is of crucial importance in two ways: (i) first, as mentioned in our…

Dominance, Merger control, Merger notification, Switzerland

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

Under Swiss law, a proposed concentration triggers a mandatory pre-merger notification if one of the undertakings concerned was held dominant, irrespective of the statutory turnover thresholds. It was previously unclear whether this criterion had to be met at the time of signing or at the time of closing. The authority has now clarified this question….

Anticompetitive agreements, Dawn raids, Labour market, Türkiye, Wage fixing

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Anti-competitive practices in the labor markets have generally not been on the radar of the competition watchdogs. Given the increase in the number of cases dealing with the labor markets within the last five years, this appears to change. The Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) contributed to that shift by publishing on May 6, 2020 another…

Ireland, Merger control, Simplified procedure

, (Matheson)/ /1 Comment

As of 1 July 2020, a new “simplified procedure” will be available for certain notifiable mergers which are unlikely to raise a concern of loss of competition. The procedure is more limited in scope and in its benefits than the EU equivalent.  While parties availing of the procedure will be exempt from completing some sections…