On 4 March 2020, the European Court of Justice (“CJEU”) rendered its judgment in the Marine Harvest case.[1] The CJEU dismissed Marine Harvest’s appeal against a European Commission (“Commission”) decision in which the Commission imposed two separate fines of EUR 10 million each for failure to notify a transaction[2] and for implementing that transaction prior…
Historically, crises have been catalysts of legal and political change. On occasion of the COVID-19 emergency, this week (April 20th, 2020) the Ecuadorian competition agency (‘Superintendencia de Control del Poder de Mercado’) (“SCPM”) has arguably made one of the most important legal reforms since that country’s competition act was enacted in 2011. Ecuador has a…
1. Brief overview of the existing legislation The current Competition law[1] in Latvia has been in force since 2002 and is the primary legislation of competition in Latvia. It covers all main infringement types, as well as rules on competition neutrality for publicly owned undertakings and restrictions on unfair competition. Its predecessors were Competition law…
The global coronavirus pandemic impacts all aspects of life. The operation of the EU merger control regime is no exception. This situation will likely continue for some considerable period, potentially over several months. The inevitable resulting disruption will have negative effects on the M&A process for many companies. This post considers the effects of the…
COVID-19, or more commonly known as the Coronavirus, has spread across the European Union (“EU”) like wildfire. Several Member States have closed their borders and ordered travel prohibitions, as well as the closing of schools, shops and restaurants. This new status quo will likely remain for several weeks if not months, possibly leading to severe…
Most competition authorities have a preference for structural remedies in merger cases in the form of divestitures while behavioural remedies are used less frequently. The below blog post analyses whether the historical bias of behavioural remedies is still warranted or whether it is time that authorities take a more flexible and differentiated approach when considering…
P2s Get Longer, But P1s Don’t! Two 2018 P2s, cleared in 2019, took over 320 days. One of the two decisions is published and runs to 240 pages. In 2003, Year 1 of modern Irish merger control, a P2 averaged 100 days and a typical P2 decision was 20 pages. But delays to “no-issue” deals…
From 1 January 2020, the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition (the “CPC”) has been applying new merger filing guidelines (the “Guidelines”). The former guidelines, applied for more than ten years, did not differentiate between transactions (simpler or more complex) irrespectively of their potential competition concerns. This unified approach was unnecessarily bureaucratic with regard…
As you are aware, the UK will be leaving the EU this Friday 31 January (Exit Day). The CMA has published guidance on how Brexit affects the CMA’s powers and processes for antitrust enforcement and merger control during the Transition Period, towards the end of that period, and after it ends. The guidance also explains…
Background On 20 December 2019, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) published a decision in which the commitment to dissolve the joint venture Port Towage Amsterdam (PTA) by two port towing undertakings was confirmed. This joint venture was created by the undertakings Svitzer and Iskes. ACM believed that the cooperation between the two…
