The pantomime season has come early this year with the recent headline row over how oil prices are set. It is the show that has something for everyone. Furious motorists. Politicians looking for cheap and cheerful publicity. And the kind of villain that the public love to hiss and boo – an extremely wealthy industry….
Like the European Commission, I am confident that the European Merger Simplification Project will bring benefits for clients. As many commentators have affirmed, I do not doubt that the increase of the currently applicable market share thresholds for the identification of horizontally and vertically “affected markets” by 5 per cent to 20% and 30% respectively…
On 31 January 2013, the European Commission (DG Internal Market) published a Green Paper on unfair trading practices in the business-to-business food and non-food supply chain in Europe. One of the issues that the Green Paper deals with is the use by some suppliers of territorial supply constraints – described as impeding retailers’ ability to…
Here is an interesting note by my colleague John Bodrug (jbodrug@dwpv.com) on the collective bargaining exemption under Canada’s Competition Act. ************************************************ A current investigation by the Canadian Competition Bureau into alleged illegal agreements among several residential low rise concrete forming contractors in Toronto, Ontario includes allegations that some provisions in a collective agreement between the…
On April 26, 2013, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC“) – one of China’s three antitrust law enforcement bodies – noted on its website that it had held a meeting with certain industry participants to obtain feedback on the latest draft Regulation on the Prohibition of Conduct Eliminating or Restricting Competition through Abuses of Intellectual…
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) has stepped up its merger control activities on many fronts in recent weeks, issuing ground-breaking decisions in the Glencore/Xstrata and Marubeni/Gavilon cases and circulating draft procedural rules for public consultation on merger remedies and on dealing with straightforward merger control cases. The new decisions On April 16, 2013, MOFCOM…
In March 2013, the President of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (“OCCP”) published a new draft amendment to the Competition Act. If approved by the Council of Ministers, the draft will be sent to parliament and is likely to become effective by the end of this year. The changes are far-reaching and…
US and EU antitrust law – antipodes as far as individual liability is concerned? The US and EU approaches with regard to individual liability for competition law infringements have traditionally been notoriously different. US antitrust enforcement is well-known for its use of criminal sanctions against individuals, from fines to imprisonment. Since 2004, an individual who…
Article 101(2) TFEU states that agreements and decisions by associations of undertakings that contravene Article 101(1) TFEU are null and void. However, it is silent on the fate of concerted practices. Strikingly, apart from a tangential reference in the odd Opinion of an Advocate General or one Order of the President of the General Court,…
Here is an item on an important decision of Canada’s Competition Tribunal written by my partners George Addy, Sandra Forbes, John Bodrug and Jim Dinning. It is especially relevant for trade associations – Mark On April 15, 2013, the Canadian Competition Tribunal released its decision dismissing the Commissioner of Competition’s application against the Toronto Real…
