A fine of slightly above EUR 400 000 was imposed to the biggest Bulgarian telecom operator – A1 Bulgaria, member of Telekom Austria Group (“A1”) for abuse of stronger bargaining position in its contractual relationship with its former sales representative – Handy Bulgaria (“Handy”). The relationship between the two companies started back in 2005, when Handy…
The European Court of Justice (CJEU) held recently in Apple Sales International v MJA acting as liquidator of eBizcuss.com[1] that claims alleging abuse of a dominant position could come within the terms of a jurisdiction clause even where the clause did not expressly refer to claims based on competition law. Relevant Rules The rules…
Unlike recent merger cases where the Commission looked at the concentration of data within a merged entity, the Commission’s focus in Apple/Shazam was on vertical concerns, including as a result of access to Shazam customer data. The focus was more about the potential impact on Apple’s rivals rather than whether the acquisition of data would…
“Personal data is the currency of today’s digital market.”[1] -Viviane Reding, (Former Vice-President, the European Commission) Recently, a Committee of Experts (Srikrishna Committee) set up in India to draft a law for data protection in the country after enunciation of the right to privacy by the Indian Supreme Court, released the “Personal Data Protection Bill,…
Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (“CCPC”) (www.ccpc.ie) has initiated a very welcome public consultation on possibly simplifying the merger control process. Simplified procedure for Ireland? In a consultation paper, the CCPC asks whether there should be a “simplified procedure” for some notifications in Ireland (https://www.ccpc.ie/business/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/11/Simplified-Procedure-Consultation.pdf). This would apply to deals which “clearly do…
On 20 November 2018, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission reached a political agreement on the proposed EU framework for screening of foreign direct investments (FDIs). The proposal, put forward by the Commission in September 2017, aims at protecting key strategic industries and assets in Europe whilst maintaining the EU’s appeal to foreign…
In September 2018, the European Commission (“EC”) sent out formal requests for information (“RFIs”) to investigate allegations of an anticompetitive conduct by Amazon. The investigation relates to the interdependencies between Amazon’s third-party sales platform for retailers (“Amazon Marketplace”) and Amazon’s own online retail operations. Operating both on an upstream intermediation market for businesses (“merchants”) and…
With Halloween just past, the French Competition Authority (FCA) is revisiting chainsaw massacre: on October 24, 2018, it adopted a decision imposing a 7 million euros fine on chainsaw manufacturer Stihl for imposing a de facto ban on online sales to its distributors (see press release here). Even more importantly, contrasting with previous French cases, the…
EU competition policy: based on political discretion? Many would agree that Brussels’ legislative priorities guide competition policy and enforcement. Under President Juncker’s mandate, the creation of an Energy Union, a Single Digital Market, and a better functioning internal market have been at the top of the agenda. In a recent interview with the Guardian, EU’s…
Introduction In Ireland’s first bid-rigging case the Court of Appeal in its 20 June 2018 judgment decided that: (i) the €7,500 fine imposed by the Central Criminal Court on Brendan Smith was unduly lenient and raised it to €45,000; but (ii) that it was not unduly lenient of the Central Criminal Court to have imposed…
