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…

The European Commission has published for public consultation its long-awaited draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses (draft Guidelines). The draft Guidelines aim at making it faster and easier for the Commission to pursue abuse of dominance cases, in particular by classifying a number of practices as “presumptively harmful”. This represents a marked departure from the 2008…

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, or FSR, is intended to prevent or remedy distortions of the EU internal market caused by “foreign” – meaning non-EU – subsidies benefitting companies active in the EU.  The FSR draws on EU merger control, State aid and trade law, but it also introduces new legal concepts and procedures not…

Executive Summary On 20 February 2024, the German Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ“) ruled on the disclosure of trade secrets in antitrust proceedings. The underlying case (File No. KVB 69/23) concerns the German Federal Cartel Office’s (“FCO“) antitrust investigation into Google’s business practices and the FCO’s intention to disclose information to a third party TomTom,…

Approaching the summer vacation, the end of July was deemed extremely eventful for NCA enforcement actions. On 18 July, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA or AGCM) triggered a sanctioning proceeding against Google with respect to the submission to users of a request for consent to the linking of the services they offer. A few days…

Part I: Prohibitive Provisions This blog post is the first in a series of two blog posts. The objective of this series is to provide a brief overview of the Draft Amendment of the Turkish Competition Act (“Draft Law”, “Turkish DMA”, “Draft” or “Law”). The first blog post focuses on the substantive provisions whereas the…

Introduction Companies nowadays are subject to strict regulations in different areas of law. These regulations have obliged companies to implement compliance programmes to ensure that they comply with these rules to avoid severe consequences. Compliance programmes were originally focused on criminal matters. However, compliance programmes have now also expanded to other areas of law such…

Introduction This judgment of the Court of Justice (ECJ) of 13 June 2024 concerns the question if the European Commission (EC) may declare a national measure compatible with the internal market without first determining whether the measure constitutes aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU. It might be said that it does not matter…

In recent years, the landscape of antitrust damages actions in the European Union has evolved significantly, guided by landmark rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Our recent paper provides a comprehensive overview of these developments as part of the Yearbook on Procedural Law of the Court of Justice of the…

The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023 (PERA), introduced by Senators Thom Tillis and Chris Coons, aims to broaden the scope of patentable subject matter in the U.S. This Act addresses limitations from Supreme Court decisions like Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, which have restricted patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act….