Introduction With the exception of hard-core cartel conduct such as price-fixing and bid-rigging, Canadian competition law has de-emphasized in recent years the importance of pricing conduct as a source of anti-competitive harm. Thus, although the Canadian Competition Act historically contained a variety of criminal offences targeted at pricing conduct – price discrimination, predatory pricing, geographic…
I. INTRODUCTION Perhaps more than ever, tensions between suppliers and retailers have become the defining feature of the grocery industry worldwide. These tensions have also frequently formed the basis for interventions (or proposed interventions) by competition enforcement authorities in this sector. Canada is no exception to this global trend. The Canadian retail grocery industry is…
70th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Tuesday, July 15, 2014 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The New Wave of Concentrations in the Telecommunications Sector: Merger Control Issues and Remedies Michele PIERGIOVANNI, DG COMP Thomas WESSELY, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Programme: 12:00 – 12:30: Sandwich lunch and socializing 12:30 – 13:30: Presentations and…
Co-authored by Nicola Boyle, Tom Bolster and Boris Bronfentrinker, Hausfeld On 5 June 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) clarified the full extent of cartel damages that can be recovered in Europe. The ECJ ruled that the civil liability of cartelists also extends to so-called “umbrella pricing”. This term describes pricing…
Last week, the Polish Lower Chamber of Parliament agreed final changes to Poland’s competition law regime. The new regime, which will be implemented by amendments to the Polish Act on Competition and Consumer Protection, is likely to come into force at the beginning of 2015. Whilst the amendments simplify and accelerate merger control proceedings, they…
69th Lunch Talk of the Global Competition Law Center Thursday, June 26, 2014 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM The Revised Competition Regime for Technology Transfer Agreements (TTBER): Policy and Practice Luc PEEPERKORN & Anna VERNET, DG COMP Jérôme VAN BIERVLIET, VIB Life Sciences Research Institute Programme: 12:00 – 12:30: Sandwich lunch and socializing 12:30…
It took five years to draft. But now everything’s go!-go!-go! First published late spring 2014, Ireland’s newest competition law reform could be adopted by July. And though planning was long and time for debate is now short, last minute changes (big ones too) continue. Just introduced amendments include new merger control thresholds. Other surprises include…
On 6 May, the Dutch government issued a set of policy directions (“Directions”) to the Dutch competition authority (“ACM”) concerning the application of the Dutch equivalent of Article 101(3) TFEU in respect to sustainability initiatives. Around the same time, ACM published a Vision Document setting out how the authority intends to implement the Directions in…
The judgement in Commission v EnBW (C-365/12, 27 February 2014) has already awakened a lot of interest. The facts are very simple. EnBW, an energy-distribution company requires access to the cartel file documents related to the prosecution of a number of GIS producers in 2007 and the Commission rejects this application. Following the action for…
Co-authored by Lesley Hannah, Stella Gartagani and Boris Bronfentrinker, Hausfeld On 17 April 2014, a major step was taken in facilitating the pursuit of cartel damages claims across Europe. The European Parliament approved the European Commission’s proposal for a new Directive that will harmonise national rules in order to make it easier for consumers and…
