Switzerland

Consumer welfare, Economics, Financial markets, National competition authorities (NCAs), Switzerland

, (KU Leuven)/ /Leave a comment

The collapse of Crédit Suisse and its subsequent takeover by UBS has produced far-reaching effects, affecting the global banking landscape. Financial stability considerations and market turmoil surrounding the takeover have been widely discussed in the media. Other perspectives, however, have received relatively little attention. In this blog post, we consider a number of competition law…

Competition Law 2022, Switzerland

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2022: The Year of Series of Judgments The year 2022 was an eventful year from a Swiss Competition jurisdictional perspective. Case law on unlawful competition agreements/cartels was at the forefront of the discussion on Swiss competition law. In the following, we take a closer look at the series of judgments of the Swiss Federal Supreme…

Brexit, China, Competition policy, European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Merger control, Private investment, Property investment, Public procurement, Regulation, Remedies, State owned enterprise (SOE), Subsidies, Switzerland, Tax, Taxation, Tender, Trade Law, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /Leave a comment

On 12 January 2023, the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) entered into force. The majority of the FSR will start to apply on 12 July 2023. The FSR constitutes a new investigatory review tool for the European Commission. It will focus on economic behaviour on the internal market by companies who received foreign subsidies…

Enforcement, Germany, Information exchange, Investigations, Switzerland

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New Cooperation Agreement On November 1, 2022, Switzerland and Germany signed an administrative agreement on cooperation between their competition authorities (“Agreement”). The Agreement is expected to enter into force in September 2023 at the earliest because the Swiss Federal Assembly still has to approve the Agreement. The ratifying German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate…

Private international law, Procedures, Switzerland, United Kingdom

(Maitland Walker LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The Lugano Convention 2007 is an international treaty negotiated by the EU on behalf of its Member States with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.  It seeks to clarify (inter alia) which courts have jurisdiction in cross-border civil and commercial disputes. The UK ceased to be a Member of the Convention upon Brexit and its attempt to…

Switzerland, VBER, Vertical agreements, Vertical restraints

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Following the revision of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation in the European Union, the Swiss Competition Commission is now also proposing to amend its Vertical Notice and Guidelines. Although the proposed amendments are based on the new EU distribution rules, they still depart from them on key issues, resulting in a “Swiss Finish”.   Background…

Foreign direct investment, Switzerland

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Switzerland is one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign investments – but does not yet have a general regime for the systematic screening of foreign investments. As mandated by Parliament, the Federal Council, the Swiss government, has now issued a preliminary draft legislation for public consultation proposing to introduce a foreign investment regime in…

Competition Law 2021, Switzerland

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2021: Less case law, more legislation While the year 2021 was a rather unspectacular year regarding relevant new case law, the legislative made sure it provided for quite noteworthy developments in competition law nonetheless. The Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo“) and especially the courts produced relatively few leading decisions in 2021, with still a lot of…

Abuse of dominance, Interim measures, Switzerland, Telecommunications

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Interim measures are back on the Swiss Competition Commission’s radar, especially in dominance cases. The background of this latest development is the authority’s desire to accelerate its proceedings and ensure the efficacy of competition law. However, the most recent cases show that interim measures are not always suitable for this purpose – especially in dynamic…

Pricing, Switzerland, Vertical agreements, Vertical restraints

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /1 Comment

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court (the “Court”) found in its decision of February 4, 2021, 2C_149/2018 (the “Decision”) that Pfizer Ltd. (“Pfizer”) had entered into an unlawful vertical price agreement (concerted practice) with pharmacies and physicians limiting competition by issuing vertical price recommendations for Viagra. The decision raises questions as to whether and under what…