The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) has published a research report on competition and market power in labour markets. The report is likely to reinforce the CMA’s determination to use its competition law powers to tackle anti-competitive behaviour in labour markets, as well as the case for broader legislative reform. The report…
Introduction The debate about expanding competition law goals is a hot topic in the global competition policy agenda. The return of the antitrust debate in public opinion, due to the rise of Big Techs, opened the path to new proposals regarding sustainability, democracy, innovation, and inequality as competition goals or objectives. This new agenda has…
In a policy paper on “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy”, the UK government has announced proposals to limit the duration of non-compete clauses in employment contracts to three months. This proposal reflects the growing concern worldwide concerning the use of non-competes. Earlier this year, the FTC in the US took even more extreme action…
A new era of cartel enforcement Competition authorities worldwide have historically focused on investigating classic cartel practices, such as price fixing, market sharing, and exchanging commercially sensitive information. These practices are primarily investigated in traditional markets, such as pharmaceuticals, technology, and retail. However, in recent years, an increasing number of antitrust agencies have been focusing…
On September 29th 2022, the Commission published Guidelines on the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons (hereinafter: the Guidelines). The first draft of this document was released almost a year ago as part of a package including a proposed Directive on platform work. The Guidelines,…
Competition authorities globally continue to focus attention on potential anticompetitive conduct affecting labour markets, with a particular emphasis on “wage-fixing” and “no-poaching” agreements. Although Canada was somewhat late in addressing this issue, the federal government has now passed amendments to the Canadian Competition Act that criminalize wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements between parties. In enacting this…
The labor market has gradually increased its place on the agenda of competition law, especially in the last ten years. No-poaching agreements (agreements between competitors to not transfer employees from each other) come first among the elements that constitute the subject of competition law in the labor market. Like the other competition authorities, the Turkish…
After deliberating on the matter for a year, DG COMP on the 9th of December published its draft guidance on the application of Article 101 on collective bargaining of the self-employed. This is done in response to the rise and proliferation of the online economy, centred specifically on platforms and greater reliance on freelancers and…
In a speech on 22 October 2021, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager revealed that the European Commission was planning a series of dawn raids for the months to come. She highlighted that the European Commission is not just looking to investigate traditional cartels, like price-fixing agreements, but also other types of anti-competitive conduct – such…
On 6 January 2020, the European Commission (EC) published an inception impact assessment that invites comments on the scope of application of EU competition law to collective bargaining agreements for the self-employed. The EC will launch in the first half of 2021 a more detailed public consultation, with a view to the possible adoption of…
