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…
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…
Among the many investigations and decisions targeting Google worldwide, the sanction of EUR 250 million imposed by the French Competition Authority (the Autorité) on 15 March 2024 (see here) in what is now arguably the ‘saga’ of neighbouring rights, has a number of eye-catching features in several respects. Breaking news (unfolding when this post was…
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is set out as a complementary and separate regulatory instrument to EU competition law as well as to the application of national competition law provisions at the Member State level. In parallel, the regulation’s legal basis is Article 114 of the TFEU. Fragmentation in digital rulemaking was to be detached…
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) introduced an innovative framework aimed at promoting contestability and fairness in digital markets. In addition to imposing a multitude of substantial obligations on gatekeepers, the DMA incorporates a sophisticated and multi-faceted enforcement system. The European Commission assumes the primary role as the enforcer of the DMA, while the Member States…
Introduction In recent years, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has markedly intensified its scrutiny of undertakings operating in the cosmetics sector with greater frequency, predominantly based on allegations of resale price maintenance and the restriction of online sales in this industry. In most of these investigations, the relevant undertakings have admitted the violation and applied…
Introduction On March 21st Advocate General Emiliou handed down his Opinion in Joined Cases C-611/22P and C-625/22P, respectively Illumina Inc. v. European Commission and Grail LLC, and Illumina Inc. v. European Commission. One can argue that the Emiliou Opinion is an exercise in throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at the position of the European Commission…
Is competition law fit for purpose? Do we need better tools to make markets fair? How far should government go to ‘fix’ market structures? It’s impossible to attend an antitrust conference these days without discussing these questions under the umbrella of competition & industrial policy. From decades of broad consensus championing competitive neutrality and ‘letting…
After an initial period of indifferent interest, the current Canadian government continues to toughen its approach to the review of foreign investments in Canada. Two important developments in March 2024 underscore this trend. First, the government enacted substantial amendments to the Investment Canada Act (ICA) on March 22, 2024.These amendments, the most significant since 2009,…
The FSR and public procurement The primary objective of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is to address the influence of foreign subsidies that may distort the integrity of the EU’s internal market. This encompasses scenarios where recipients gain an unfair advantage enabling them to secure public procurement contracts within the EU at the expense of…
