Merger challenges are rare in Canada. The last contested merger case in Canada was in 2005. Typically, concerns about a prospective merger are resolved in negotiations between the Commissioner of Competition (the “Commissioner”) and the acquiring party, with some form of partial divestiture the usual remedy required. As such, it was a major development when…
On 12 June 2012, the Austrian council of ministers has adopted a proposal for an overhaul of the Austrian Cartel Act and of the Competition Act. If passed by parliament, which is likely, the amendment will become law on 1 October 2012. This post considers the proposed key changes. (Once the bill has been duly…
On April 5, 2012 the Croatian Competition Agency (“Agency”) rendered a decision rejecting a complaint against the company Prirodni Plin d.o.o. (Natural Gas Ltd – “NG”) for abuse of dominant position on the market for supply/sale of natural gas. As a curious but rather usual occurrence in Croatian business practice, the complaint was submitted by…
This post was written by Ms. Renata Leka and Mr. Erlind Kodhelaj of Boga & Associates, Tirana, Albania. The Albanian Competition Authority recently circulated for comments its new draft guidelines entitled “On the Control of Concentrations involving Undertakings” (“the Guidelines”). Key highlights Law No. 9121, dated 28.07.2003, “On the Protection of Competition” (“the Law”) requires…
In the run-up to the London Olympics, it seems particularly appropriate that the competition theme of the moment is all about fighting. Take Spain, for instance. The country’s antitrust authority – the Comisión Nacional de la Competencia (CNC) – has recently started legal proceedings against a bunch of matadors and a sports marketing rights consultancy…
Stanford University Press has just released the first volume of a series on Global Competition Law and Economics, entitled “The Global Limits of Competition Law” (I. Lianos & D. Sokol, eds). This first volume contains a wealth of ideas on how law, economics and institutions respond to an increasingly global and interconnected antitrust community. It…
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has upheld the Competition Commission’s decision to require Stericycle to divest the entirety of Ecowaste Southwest following its prohibition of the completed merger. In dismissing Stericycle’s appeal, the Tribunal confirmed that the Commission is not obliged to identify of its own motion all possible remedies, but merely those that would clearly resolve the harm to competition caused by the merger. It also held that, in a completed merger, the purchaser takes the risk of being required to divest the entire business acquired by it, if this is necessary to restore effective competition.
In a judgment handed down today (C-158/11 Auto 24), the EU Court of Justice (“CJEU”) confirmed that suppliers operating selective distribution systems (“SDSs”) are under no obligation to publish the criteria used to appoint distributors, and that a car manufacturer using a SDS based on quantitative criteria is under no obligation to apply these criteria…
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a decision that provides generic pharmaceutical manufacturers with the ability to challenge the “use codes” listed by brand name manufacturers in filings made with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). The decision in Caraco v. Novo Nordisk illustrates the impact that these “use codes” can have on the…
On 15 May 2012, Advocate-General Mazák delivered his long awaited Opinion to the European Court of Justice in the long-running AstraZeneca litigation. Practitioners hoping for an opinion that tempered some of the more extreme dicta of the General Court were to be disappointed. Advocate-General Mazák recommended that the General Court’s judgment be upheld in its…
