Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Google, National court, Poland, Self-preferencing, Unfair competition, Unfair practices

(Akademia Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości)/ /Leave a comment

In a preliminary ruling issued on 14 March 2024, the District Court in Warsaw (DCW) granted Ceneo Ltd. an interim injunction in respect of non-monetary claims against Google Ireland Ltd. to cease acts of unfair competition on the Polish territory, consisting in the creation of market entry barriers for the plaintiff. This ruling precedes (temporarily…

Advantage, Advocate General, Restriction by effect, Restriction by object, Sport

(Tilburg University)/ /Leave a comment

On 30 April 2024, AG Szpunar issued his Opinion in Case C-650/22, FIFA v BZ. This gives the Court an opportunity to revisit and apply the December 2023 trilogy of sports cases decided by the Grand Chamber, which I have discussed in the Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo and which have been nicely contextualized by…

European Commission, European Union, Labour market, No-poach-agreement, Restriction by object

(ZESA Attorney Partnership)/ /Leave a comment

On 3 May, the EC published a policy brief on labor markets. The existing legal framework allows the EC and EU national competition authorities to take decisive action against anticompetitive agreements in labor markets. Wage-fixing and no-poach agreements are detrimental to competition in labor markets and should generally be qualified as restrictions by object. Wage-fixing…

Compliance, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Germany, Regulation

, (Linklaters)/ /Leave a comment

Ever since its introduction in 2021, Section 19a of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen or “GWB”) has attracted attention, not only in Germany, but also around the globe. Through this provision, the national legislator strengthened the regulatory framework against potentially anti-competitive practices by specific market players, namely “undertakings of paramount…

Non-compete clauses, United States of America

, , , , , , , (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)/ /Leave a comment

The FTC first proposed to ban essentially all employer-employee non-competes throughout the US while I was a Commissioner. At that time, many — including me – expressed concern that the FTC did not have the authority to issue a broad rule overturning dozens of state laws and negating more than 30 million existing contracts. We…

Dawn raids, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation

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At the crack of dawn, the European Commission embarked on a milestone enforcement endeavor: the first unannounced inspection under the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR)! The European Commission, in tandem with national competition authorities, conducted its first dawn raids under the FSR at the Polish and Dutch offices of Nuctech, a Chinese company specialized…

Abuse of dominance, Switzerland

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

In last week’s leading case on the abuse of a dominant position (2C_698/2021), the Federal Supreme Court sweepingly redefines the interpretation of abusive pricing and margin squeezes as well as the interplay between competition law and sector regulation. The court rules that Swisscom had not acted abusively and, therefore, lifts the sanction of around CHF…

Austria, Competition Law 2023

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Cartels and Restrictive Agreements Policy and Procedure Revised Settlement Guidelines On 6 November 2023, the AFCA published revised settlement guidelines. Based on these revised guidelines, the AFCA will apply a settlement discount of up to 15% (compared to 20% under the previous settlement guidelines of 2004). In addition, the revised settlement guidelines expressly recognise the…

Competition Law 2023, Czech Republic

, , (Havel & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

Competition policy For the Czech competition law, 2023 was a year of significant developments. To begin with, after more than 2 years after the implementation deadline, the Czech Competition Act was finally brought in line with the ECN+ Directive. The Czech Parliament used the amendment to introduce numerous changes to the existing toolkit of the…

Blockchain, India, Leniency

(Supreme Court of India)/ /Leave a comment

Indian competition law recently enacted a ‘leniency plus’ regime, which incentivizes the cartelists to disclose information about their other cartels that were hitherto unknown to the Competition Commission of India (CCI). While this is a welcome change for tracing more cartels, this piece argues that it still falls short of tackling the near future challenges…