Mark Katz and Alysha Manji Introduction Since its arrival in Canada in 2012, Uber has generated heated discussion among affected interests, notably the established taxi industry, regulatory bodies overseeing the industry, and municipal and provincial governments responsible for putting the existing regulatory frameworks into place. In an effort to stave off the impact of its…
In all competition investigations, it is inevitable that the parties under investigation, and often also third parties, will receive numerous information requests and demands to produce documents and provide information. Such requests may be either formal or informal in nature. These are often burdensome, requiring the provision of substantial information and documentation in a short…
Longstanding CCPC dawn raid practice to copy electronic data (including entire email accounts) for later off-site review by investigators is unlawful according to a recent ruling of the Irish Competition Court. Bulk copying of e-files “will almost certainly, perhaps inevitably” capture material outside the scope of any investigation, the court found. Accordingly, CCPC search of…
Once upon a time, but not so long ago, a certain company received a request for information (“RFI”) from the European Commission (in the form of a binding decision). This RFI was nothing like any company had ever seen. It was 90 pages long, contained 11 sets of numerous detailed questions, and demanded a rapid…
Introduction In October 2015, following a phase II investigation, the European Commission published its decision to approve a JV between three of the largest collective management organisations (CMOs) in Europe, PRSfM (UK), GEMA (Germany) and STIM (Sweden).[1]M.6800-PRSfM/ STIM/ GEMA/ JV. As in other recent music industry mergers, the Commission investigated whether the combination of the…
The insurance block exemption regulation (IBER) protects statistical cooperation and certain joint insurance arrangements (inter alia line slips, pools, consortia, joint binding authorities). The EU report examining the IBER’s renewal concludes it is either superfluous or superseded. But the report leaves many practitioners scratching their heads. The report miss-describes industry fundamentals and omits essential practices benefitting…
81th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Thursday, April 28, 2016 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The ECN+ Initiative: Outcome and Challenges of the Commission Consultation on the Empowering of NCAs with Eddy DE SMIJTER, DG COMP Guido LOBRANO, Business Europe Alf-Henrik BISCHKE, Hengeler Mueller Moderator: Jacques Bourgeois, Sidley Austin LLP Programme:…
In her recent opinion, Advocate General J. Kokott went over one of the most important elements for companies facing cartel sanction: the fines calculation method. If this specific point is often challenged by the parties, the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (ECJ) upcoming judgement Pilkington Group Ltd and Others v European Commission may…
In a recent media appearance, the new President of the Argentine Antitrust Commission (CNDC) and the Trade Secretary, gave some insights into the current status of the local antitrust regime and announced the introduction of several changes and amendments: The CNDC will launch 11 market investigations with the objective of assessing their level of competition….
On March 29, 2016, the Canadian Commissioner of Competition and Parkland Fuel Corp. entered into a consent agreement to resolve the Commissioner’s challenge to Parkland’s acquisition of Pioneer Energy. This marks the first time in a Canadian Competition Tribunal proceeding that a consent agreement has been negotiated through mediation. The consent agreement includes not only…
