My previous comment on Case-50/21 Prestige and Limousine SL v Área Metropolitana de Barcelona et al (see here) started with the following question: “Are the Supposed Regulatory Privileges of the Taxi Sector Coming to an End? The Opinion of AG Szpunar in Case C‑50/21”. The conclusions in the ECJ judgment of June 8, 2023 (Judgment)…
Loosely based on the lyrics of the band Wu-Tang Clan, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) took a closer look at the acquisition of a Hungarian gravel pit in its judgment of 13 July 2023, C- 106/22, and found some rather big “stones” to turn around with regard to FDI in Europe….
Sport itself is all about the competition on the pitch. However, sports federations’ actions and regulations have come increasingly into the focus of competition watchdogs and courts worldwide. A well-known example is the dispute over the establishment of the European Super League. As the recently announced merger between golf associations PGA and L.I.V. demonstrates, competition…
On 27 April, about a month after an unofficial leaked version, the European Commission published the highly-contentious Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) Regulation Proposal. The Proposal aims to facilitate SEP licensing by increasing transparency over SEPs, reducing information asymmetries between SEP licensors and implementers and facilitating the agreement on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (‘FRAND’) licenses. Such…
The DMA will start to apply on March 2024. Starting on the 2nd of May, the gatekeepers have a maximum of two months to notify their gatekeeper status to the European Commission (EC). The European Commission (EC) has acquired the compromise to make the process of the DMA’s future implementation, monitoring and oversight of compliance as…
The UK Parliament is poised to publish its Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (“the Bill”). The essential point is to place the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (“CMA”)’s Digital Markets Unit (“DMU”) on a statutory footing and to set out the evidence standards applicable to it. The Bill will determine whether, how, and on…
Last 9 December, the European Commission issued its first draft implementing regulation for the DMA setting out the practical details surrounding the procedures around the gatekeeper’s designation (see the overview of the draft here). The feedback period surrounding the draft finished on 9 January 2023. On 14 April, the European Commission made public the first…
Introduction Ride-hailing apps are present practically in every country from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In places like Colombia and Brazil, they entered the market as early as 2013 – 2014 respectively, according to research authored by Resende and Lima. Apps like Uber, Cabify and Didi have emerged and generated pressure on the traditional…
Jurisdiction after DB Station At the end of last year, the ECJ rendered a much-anticipated ruling in the DB Station case (C-721/10), which fundamentally clarified the hierarchy between regulators and civil courts in abuse of dominance cases relating to regulated infrastructure sectors. After lengthy national proceedings, the ECJ decided that national civil courts can only…
“In many places across the European Union, suppliers of taxi services have traditionally been shielded from competition thanks to State regulation, while web-based platforms have started offering local passenger transport-on-demand services with a high degree of zeal, precision and efficiency”. The previous statement was one of the opening lines of the Opinion issued by Advocate…
