Antitrust

(bpv Grigorescu Ştefănică )/ /Leave a comment

On 19th of April 2011, the Romanian Competition Council (the “RCC”) closed the investigation against the Romanian Football Federation and its members, as well as against the Football Professional League and its members regarding the potential breach of the Romanian and European antitrust rules by joint commercialisation of the commercial rights on football competitions, following…

Enforcement, Mergers

(Finnish Competition Authority, Finland)/ /Leave a comment

Many new economic analysis tools have been introduced, particularly for merger analysis during the last decade. Some of these tools have also raised considerable public interest. For instance, probably not many have avoided hearing of the UPP test, and undoubtedly many are already familiar with the meaning of the abbreviations GUPPI, IPR and CMCR. The…

Dominance, United Kingdom

(Sidley Austin LLP)/ /Leave a comment

In early July this year, the UK’s specialist competition court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”), adopted a judgment (“Judgment”) in which it awarded a claimant (2 Travel) exemplary damages in relation to predatory pricing abuses engaged in by its dominant rival, Cardiff Bus.[1]2 Travel Group PLC (in liquidation) v Cardiff City Transport Services Limited {2012}…

Dominance

(Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov )/ /Leave a comment

More than one year ago, in response to complaints from local suppliers alleging abusive practices in the distribution chain of FMCG, the Ministry of Economy set up a Joint Task Group (JTG) to investigate whether legislative intervention was required. The JTG was fast to conclude that competition is distorted due to the existence of undertakings…

Cartels

(Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov )/ /Leave a comment

On 19 July 2012 the Bulgarian Commission on Protection of Competition (“CPC”) handed down a commitments decision and closed an investigation against six retailers for alleged horizontal coordination of their pricing and marketing policy (the “Commitments Decision”). This post highlights some issues and policy concerns stemming from the Commitments Decision and the preceding statement of…

Cartels

(Babić & Partners )/ /Leave a comment

Public procurements significantly add to the Croatian gross domestic product. Available data for 2011 reveal that public procurement contracts accounted for roughly 10% of the Croatian GDP. At the same time, based on the number of relevant decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency (“Agency”) and public statements of the Agency’s officials, cartels and cartel like…

Competition, European Commission

(Max Findlay Associates, United Kingdom)/ /Leave a comment

Sometimes it’s hard for regulators to see the world beyond the protective bubble in which they spend so much of their working lives. Professional preoccupations can easily blind them to the real concerns – or lack of them – of people living outside the bubble. Often this visual disability is accompanied by a strange failure…

Consumer welfare, Enforcement, Policy

(University of Reading, Centre for Commercial Law and Financial Regulation )/ /2 Comments

The Goals of Antitrust in the Wake of Crisis Calls for a re-appreciation of competition policy have never ceased on both sides of the Atlantic. However, the current financial crisis has unsurprisingly provided a particular backdrop against which there has been increased willingness to discuss so-called “fundamental” issues both within as well as across different…

Antitrust, Competition, Intellectual property (IP), United States of America

(Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher)/ /Leave a comment

On 16 July 2012, a U.S. appeals court issued a decision holding that pharmaceutical patent settlements that restrict generic entry and contain a payment to the generic company are presumptively unlawful under the U.S. antitrust laws.  The decision is a major victory for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s view of pharmaceutical patent settlements with so-called…

Cartels, Enforcement, Investigations, Leniency

(Schellenberg Wittmer )/ /Leave a comment

Switzerland and the European Union are about to conclude a Cooperation Agreement in the field of competition law. This new Cooperation Agreement goes beyond the previous cooperation agreements of the EU with other jurisdictions. It will enable the Swiss and EU Competition authorities to closely coordinate their enforcement activities and in particular to exchange protected…