On 3 December 2015, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament (EP) approved a long-awaited regulation reforming the General Court of the European Union.[1]Council press release (886/15) of 3 December 2015, Court of Justice of the EU: Council adopts reform of General Court. This press release contains a link to the text…
When your company is raided by an antitrust regulatory agency, what recourse do you have? At first, the answer from the ECJ and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) was “not much”, as companies were not afforded the right to privacy. Over time, though, both courts have come to recognise that safeguards must be…
The FCO has ended the year 2015 with quite a bang when it prohibited internet hotel portal booking.com to continue to use its “narrow” best-price clauses on December 23, 2015. The decision includes an order to remove this clause in general t&cs and contracts by the end of January 2016 as far as hotels in…
Marcel Meinhardt and Astrid Waser, Lenz & Staehelin, Switzerland The Swiss Federal Administrative Court (“FAC”) recently passed two new judgments on vertical agreements. In the first judgment, the Court endorsed its previous Gaba case law and confirmed a sanction against BMW AG (“BMW”) amounting to CHF 156 million for restricting direct and parallel imports….
One of the most important issues which are being investigated by the CCI is the treatment of vertical agreements. In one of my earlier posts (http://kluwercompetitionlawblog.com/2015/06/28/competition-commission-of-india-initiates-investigation-in-relation-to-resale-price-maintenance-impact-on-business-operations/), it was shown how the CCI is referring certain cases for further investigation, the outcome of which will certain change the landscape in which business is run in India….
Hong Kong’s first cross-sector competition law – the Competition Ordinance (“Ordinance”) – finally came into full force on 14 December 2015. The Ordinance became law in June 2012, initially bringing into effect only the provisions allowing for the regulatory framework to be put into place. Over the two and a half years run up to…
On January 6, 2016, the Secretariat of the Swiss Competition Commission (the investigative body of the Swiss Competition Commission; the “Secretariat”) issued a “Notice on investigation instruments“, i.e. on the conduct of dawn raids, seizing of evidence, and interviews (the “Notice”). The 12-page Notice replaces an earlier notice, which mainly described the process of dawn…
11th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE GLOBAL COMPETITION LAW CENTER Monday-Tuesday, February 1-2, 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, Avantika Chowdhury, Miranda Cole, Raphaël De Coninck, Carles Esteva-Mosso, Luc Gyselen, James Killick,…
A seller that failed to provide requested information to the Belgian Competition Authority (‘BCA’) on time in a merger control investigation has been fined €50,000 for obstruction. Beyond the particulars of the case the decision provides more general guidance on the different types of procedural infringements which can give rise to fines under the Belgian…
While higher concentration/oligopoly should not lead in itself to greater problems, the reality is that agencies may be more suspicious; extra laws may apply; and complaints might be more likely. This blog post sets out the things that companies can do to preserve their commercial freedom and freedom from investigation: Contacts with competitors One area…
