We have recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the EU Merger Regulation, which came into force on 21 September 1990. Since that date, we have seen an exponential growth in merger control notifications at the European level – at least up until the financial crisis that began in 2008. The good news is that, to…

If the recent Wahl opinion could have instilled some doubts about the responsibility of cartel facilitators under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),[1]Advocate General Wahl Opinion, AC Treuhand v Commission, ECLI:EU:C:2015:350 the debate has been brought to an end with the Court of Justice of the European Union’s…

This blog deals with the 2nd part of the FCO’s discussion paper on internet platforms: possible theories of harm and intervention of competition agencies. For the first part on general concepts please see my previous blog. Merger control The FCO explains that reducing the number of platforms may actually increase competition, due to the easier…

The Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission (“CPC” or “Commission”) has recently issued an important decision regarding the parallel trade of pharmaceuticals and the possibilities for its limitations. In September 2013 ,- Sopharma Trading JSC (“Sopharma”), which is the affiliated distributor of one of the leading Bulgarian pharmaceutical companies, filed with the CPC a complaint against several…

78th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Friday, October 30, 2015 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The Legal Status of Rebates after Post Danmark II Nicholas KHAN, Legal Service, European Commission Pablo IBANEZ-COLOMO, London School of Economics Moderator: Denis Waelbroeck, Ashurst LLP & GCLC Programme: 12:00 – 12:30: Sandwich lunch and socializing…

I. INTRODUCTION In June 2015, Canada’s Competition Bureau released its updated draft of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines (“Draft IPEGs”) for public review and consultation. The Draft IPEGs are intended to reflect the 2009 amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”), including the changes to the criminal conspiracy provisions and the introduction of a new…

Canada’s Commissioner of Competition is armed with a variety of compulsory powers that he can use in pursuing investigations. One such power is the ability, with the permission of a court, to subpoena documents and information under section 11 of the Canadian Competition Act. Of late, the Commissioner has been using such orders quite extensively,…

By Anita Banicevic and Mark Katz On October 14, 2015, the Canadian Competition Bureau announced that it had reached a Consent Agreement with Bell Canada to resolve the Bureau’s concerns regarding reviews posted by Bell employees for two Bell applications (apps) that were available from the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store. The…

On October 1, 2015, the FCO published a paper entitled “Digital economy – internet platforms between competition law, privacy and consumer protection” on the occasion of a conference of the working group competition law (consisting of experts from the FCO, German ministries, other competition authorities, academia and judges). The paper discusses various competition law issues…