The FCO has ended the year 2015 with quite a bang when it prohibited internet hotel portal booking.com to continue to use its “narrow” best-price clauses on December 23, 2015. The decision includes an order to remove this clause in general t&cs and contracts by the end of January 2016 as far as hotels in…
One of the most important issues which are being investigated by the CCI is the treatment of vertical agreements. In one of my earlier posts (http://kluwercompetitionlawblog.com/2015/06/28/competition-commission-of-india-initiates-investigation-in-relation-to-resale-price-maintenance-impact-on-business-operations/), it was shown how the CCI is referring certain cases for further investigation, the outcome of which will certain change the landscape in which business is run in India….
A seller that failed to provide requested information to the Belgian Competition Authority (‘BCA’) on time in a merger control investigation has been fined €50,000 for obstruction. Beyond the particulars of the case the decision provides more general guidance on the different types of procedural infringements which can give rise to fines under the Belgian…
Introduction The Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34 (“Competition Act”) requires that mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations that meet certain prescribed thresholds be notified to the Commissioner of Competition (“Commissioner”), the head of the federal Competition Bureau (“Bureau”), before they can be completed. A notification must be filed by each party to a notifiable…
On November 18, 2015, the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal quashed the decision of the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) that supermarket chain Edeka had abused its market power vis-à-vis suppliers by requesting special terms and conditions (“t&cs”) following its acquisition of discounter Plus in 2008 (so-called “wedding rebates”). The ruling is not yet published, only a…
It is common for commercial property leases to contain restrictions on how a tenant may use the leased premises. They may, for example, restrict the ability of the tenant to sell certain types of products, by specifying permitted uses (through a ‘permitted user’ clause) or prohibited uses (through a ‘restricted user’ clause). Alternatively, restrictions may…
In a recent judgment, Property Alliance Group v Royal Bank of Scotland,[1]Property Alliance Group Limited v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc {2015} EWHC 3187 (Ch), available at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2015/3272.html. the High Court has ruled that legal advice privilege applied to documents created by external lawyers whilst advising clients on multiple investigations by competition authorities worldwide…
Belgian endives are a divisive vegetable: their bitterness delights some but repulses others. And even amongst Belgian endive enthusiast you’ll find some that prefer them raw – to maintain their crispness – while others like them cooked so that their bitterness comes out even more. But Belgian endives are no longer the exclusive battleground of…
The European Commission boldly announced its 2013 merger simplification package with the headline “Commission cuts red tape for businesses.” Nearly two years on , further refinement of the Commission’s procedures is needed to reduce the information required to be included in notification Form CO, and so shorten the time needed to “start the clock” on…
The EU’s Court of Justice has ruled (in Case C-345/14 Maxima Latvija) that a clause in a property lease, between a mall owner and a supermarket ‘anchor tenant’, which gives that tenant the ‘right to approve’ the granting of leases to competing stores is not anti-competitive ‘by object’. This means that any investigating authority/court would…
