Bahrain, Competition Law 2024, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Yemen

, , (Cleary Gottlieb)/ /Leave a comment

This year, we kick off our ‘main developments in competition law and policy’ series with this special treat! Main Developments in Competition Law and Policy 2018-2024: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Saudi Arabia (the KSA), Syria, United Arab Emirates (the UAE), and Yemen 1. Introduction and Background Antitrust regulation has…

Conference, European Commission, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Geopolitics, Merger control, Merger notification, Merger Thresholds, State aid, State owned enterprise (SOE), Subsidies, Tender, Trade Law

(Simmons & Simmons) and (University of Antwerp)/ /Leave a comment

Adopted in November 2022, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is the latest arrival in the EU competition toolbox. Having just celebrated its second anniversary and with a few cases under its belt, the FSR is still the object of much discussion and curiosity from practitioners and stakeholders. To contribute to this debate, an expert panel…

Australia, Designation Decision, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

A new kid may join the digital tech regulation block. On 2 December, the Australian Treasure proposed a new digital competition regime addressing digital market power. The policy of the Australian legislator and enforcer builds on its long-term digital strategy, triggered in 2017. For more than seven years now, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission…

Liability, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The recent decision of the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) in its investigation into Altıparmak Gıda A.Ş. (“Balparmak”) and Sezen Gıda Ltd. Şti. (“Anavarza”), prominent players in the bee products market, highlights a pivotal shift in corporate liability for employees’ anti-competitive behaviour when conducted without the company’s knowledge. Unlike the approach to corporate liability taken…

Advocate General, Damages, Disclosure, Enforcement, Leniency, Private enforcement, Procedures, Public procurement, Settlement

(University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

The scope of the protection of leniency documents appears to be the central issue when it comes to the discussion about whether there is a conflict between private and public enforcement. AG Szpunar’s statements in the recently published Opinion (C-2/23) have now shed light on the CJEU’s possible direction for how to deal with this…

Art. 22, Competition policy, European Commission, Guidance, Killer acquisitions, Merger control, Mergers

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium) and , (Analysis Group)/ /Leave a comment

With the new European Commission (Commission) confirmed, European Union (EU) competition policy will be directed through 2029 by Teresa Ribera Rodríguez as the Executive Vice President (EVP) for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition from December 2024. EVP Ribera would have her hands full simply continuing the work started by outgoing EVP Vestager, including the…

Data protection, European Court of Justice, Pharmaceuticals, Unfair competition, Unfair trading practices

(Vrije Universiteit Brussel)/ /Leave a comment

The Lindenapotheke judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) marks a significant development in the interplay between data protection and unfair competition law. In this data protection case, a pharmacy filed an injunction before a national court against a competitor, operating under the name Lindenapotheke, to stop the latter’s online sale of pharmacy-only medicines….

AI, Art. 22, Italy, Killer acquisitions, Mergers

(University of Antwerp) and (Bocconi University)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The European Commission is assessing the acquisition of Israeli startup Run:ai by the US tech giant Nvidia upon referral from the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) under Art. 22(1) EUMR. The case is of particular interest, as it raises question of both legal and policy nature. On the…

India, Settlement

(Competition Commission of India) and (Bennett University)/ /Leave a comment

The Honourable High Court of Delhi (Delhi HC) through its recent judgment in the case of JCB v. CCI, has quashed the preliminary investigation of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) initiated under section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002. This move of Delhi HC has the potential to adversely alter the course of competition…

Compliance, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA)’s provisions started to apply on 2 May 2023. Since then, undertakings have been forced to check whether they met the quantitative thresholds. If that was the case, the DMA compelled them to notify their potential gatekeeper status to the European Commission. The first wave of designation decisions relating to six gatekeepers…