The EU’s Court of Justice has ruled (in Case C-345/14 Maxima Latvija) that a clause in a property lease, between a mall owner and a supermarket ‘anchor tenant’, which gives that tenant the ‘right to approve’ the granting of leases to competing stores is not anti-competitive ‘by object’. This means that any investigating authority/court would…
On 4th November, the European Commission published a far-reaching consultation (the Consultation) on proposals to boost the enforcement powers of national competition authorities (NCAs) and to address differences between national competition enforcement systems in the European Union. The Consultation builds on the 2014 Communication on Ten Years of Regulation 1/2003 (the Communication) but also reflects…
Any company or organisation that finds itself as the ‘middle man’ in contacts between competitors or which has dealings with such a middleman must take care, as a flurry of recent EU cases has demonstrated. Any company that directly facilitates those contacts is in very dangerous waters indeed. Cartel Facilitation In AC Treuhand, the European…
On 12 November 2015, Ukraine’s Parliament adopted in the first reading a bill amending the merger control rules. This initiative addresses most of the problems that had been requiring an adequate solution for a long time yet remained disregarded till now. A brief overview of the contemplated novelties is provided below. Financial Thresholds Increase The…
11th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE GLOBAL COMPETITION LAW CENTER Thursday-Friday, November 26-27, 2015 from 9:00 AM onwards THE NOTION OF RESTRICTION OF COMPETITION: REVISITING THE FOUNDATIONS OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT IN EUROPE Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Bernard Amory, Christopher Bellamy, Yves Botteman, Cristina Caffarra, Peter Camesasca, Pascale Déchamps, Raphaël De Coninck, Carles Esteva-Mosso, Luc Gyselen, Pablo Ibanez-Colomo,…
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…
