European Commission, Killer acquisitions, Merger notification, Merger regulation, Merger Thresholds, Mergers

, , , , , , (WilmerHale)/ /Leave a comment

On October 12, 2023, the European Commission (EC) ordered Illumina to unwind its already completed acquisition of the cancer test provider GRAIL Inc. This is the first time that the EC has ordered a reversal of an acquisition. This decision opens a new chapter in the ongoing Illumina/GRAIL saga, which has been unfolding for well…

Artificial Intelligence, Digital, Digital competition, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Champions, Merger control, Merger notification, Merger regulation, Mergers, OTA

(Open Markets Institute)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On September 26th, the European Commission prohibited the acquisition of the online flight booking service eTraveli by Booking Holdings, the leading provider of online hotel bookings in the European Economic Area (EEA). The Commission argues that the acquisition would have strengthened Booking’s dominant position in the market for online hotel bookings by enabling it…

Competition policy, Competition proceedings, European Court of Justice, Fundamental rights, Guidelines, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

With its decision issued on 30 March 2023 (Storytel Decision), the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) evaluated Storytel Turkey Yayıncılık Hizmetleri A.Ş.’s (Storytel) claim that some documents obtained during on-site inspections were covered by attorney-client privilege. This post presents a comparative analysis of the TCA’s approach regarding attorney-client privilege presented in the Storytel decision and the…

Competition policy, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, Ex ante regulation

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

On 9 October 2023, the European Commission (EC) issued four templates on its official website pertaining to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Each of them deals with a different provision enshrined in the regulatory framework. First of all, the European Commission published its updated Template for Reporting pursuant to Article 11 of the DMA following…

Anticompetitive agreements, Guidelines, Netherlands, Sustainability

, , (Bird & Bird)/ /Leave a comment

More than three years after it published the first draft guidelines on sustainability agreements, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) adopted a final policy rule titled ‘ACM’s oversight of sustainability agreements’ (Policy Rule). The Policy Rule aims at providing insight into how the ACM applies competition rules to sustainability agreements and how the…

Abuse of dominance, Damages, National court, Portugal, Private actions, Private enforcement, Regulation

(Universidade do Porto)/ /1 Comment

On September 25th the Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) upheld the essence of a 2022 ruling by the Portuguese Competition Court, which in turn had already upheld the 2019 decision of the Portuguese Competition Authority (PCAC) in the EDP case, condemning it to a fine of €40 million – the largest fine ever imposed in…

Abuse of dominance, Czech Republic, Damages, European Court of Justice, National court, Private actions, Private enforcement

, (Skils)/ /Leave a comment

Summary of Facts On 21 September 2023 the Advocate General Juliane Kokott presented her opinion in the Case C-605/21, Heureka Group a.s. v. Google LLC. The opinion addresses a request for a preliminary ruling from the Prague Municipal Court, which is hearing Heureka’s follow-on action against Google based on the Commission’s Decision C(2017) 4444 final…

Abuse of dominance, Data protection, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, European Court of Justice, Germany, Google, National competition authorities (NCAs)

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

On 5 October 2023, the German competition authority adopted its first tangible evidence of enforcement surrounding its new competition rules (Section 19a GWB) directed at undertakings with paramount significance for competition across markets on its case against Google for its data processing terms (see the Bundeskartellamt’s decision designating Alphabet here and a previous comment on…

Advocate General, Damages, Digital, National court, United Kingdom

(Competition and Markets Authority)/ /Leave a comment

On 21 September 2023, Advocate General (AG) Kokott delivered an opinion on the application of limitation rules for antitrust damages actions (Opinion) in the context of a preliminary ruling reference. She invited the Court of Justice to rule, among other things, that the limitation periods may not start to run until the relevant anticompetitive conduct…

Merger control, Merger notification, Merger regulation, Merger Thresholds, Mergers, Morocco

(BREMER)/ /Leave a comment

Effective 24 May 2023 the Moroccan legislator introduced new, increased merger control notification thresholds. While the increase in notification thresholds is welcome, the more relevant change is that the new turnover thresholds always require that the parties have turnover in Moroccan. While this change does not entirely resolve existing problems with a lack of local…