AI, Competition policy, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, European Union, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Innovation, Market investigations, Merger regulation, New Competition Tool, Objectives of Competition Law

(Centrum für Europäische Politik)/ /Leave a comment

As the European Commission prepares for a new mandate under President Ursula von der Leyen later this year, former ECB President Mario Draghi – famous for his “whatever it takes” approach to saving the Euro – has now turned his focus to the future of EU competitiveness in the digital age. His long-awaited report, commissioned…

Competition policy, Price gouging, United States of America

(European Commission)/ /Leave a comment

In her first economic policy speech as Presidential Candidate, Kamala Harris pledged to introduce a federal ban on price gouging in the food sector. Claiming that prices failed to return to pre-pandemic levels despite improvements to supply chains following prior breakdowns and that “[m]any of the big food companies are seeing their highest profits in…

Competition law, Competition policy, Digital competition

(University of Göttingen, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

From 4th to 6th September 2024, 96 young competition law and economics scholars, from PhD students to post-docs and assistant professors, gathered in Vienna to discuss a wide array of topical issues of competition law. In its second edition, the young competition law scholars conference managed to attract attention not only from the DACH-region but…

World Competition Law and Economics Review

(Bird and Bird, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions:   Christian Bergqvist, Post Danmark: More than Just Another Serial Infringer The Danish Postal incumbent’s, Post Danmark, struggle to acclimatize to a market without special rights has yielded epic competition cases such as Post…

Abuse of dominance, Algorithms, Pricing, Pricing algorithms, United Kingdom

(One Essex Court)/ /1 Comment

The UK Competition and Market Authority has launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over its dynamic pricing of concert tickets. This follows widespread complaints about Ticketmaster increasing ticket prices in response to large demand for band Oasis’s reunion tour. Dynamic pricing is not a new practice. Airlines and ride-hailing companies like Uber are particularly well-known for…

Abuse of dominance, Competition policy, European Commission

(Brussels School of Competition)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Over the summer, the Commission published its long-awaited draft Article 102 Guidelines (‘draft GL’) for comments.[1] The stated intention of the Commission is to base the Guidelines on the case law of the Union Courts (§9). The stated goals of the Guidelines are to allow a vigorous and effective application of Article 102, but…

Abuse of dominance, European Court of Justice, European Union, Market definition, Patent settlements, Pharmaceuticals

(Geradin Partners)/ /Leave a comment

On 27 June 2024, the EU Court of Justice (“CJEU”) issued its judgments in the Perindopril (Servier) case. The judgments follow a European Commission (“EC”) decision of 9 July 2014, and a series of General Court (“GC”) judgments of 12 December 2018 in relation to appeals against that EC decision. The case started with a…

Consumer protection, European Court of Justice, Investigations, Italy, National competition authorities (NCAs)

(University of Roma Tre) and (University of Basilicata)/ /Leave a comment

Background On September 5, the Advocate General Pikamäe is expected to deliver an opinion in the Caronte (C-511/23) and Trenitalia (C-510/23) cases. Despite the different legal bases, the cases revolve around the same question, that is whether competition law and consumer protection rules, read in the light of the effectiveness of administrative action, preclude national…

Abuse of dominance, Competition policy, European Commission, European Union, Exclusionary Abuse, Guidance, Presumptions

, , (White & Case) and (White & Case, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The European Commission has published for public consultation its long-awaited draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses (draft Guidelines). The draft Guidelines aim at making it faster and easier for the Commission to pursue abuse of dominance cases, in particular by classifying a number of practices as “presumptively harmful”. This represents a marked departure from the 2008…