This overview covers the main developments in competition law and policy in Portugal in the course of 2022. Legislative and institutional developments The Portuguese Competition Act and the bylaws of the Portuguese Competition Authority (PCA) were subject to significant amendments in 2022. Those amendments were approved by Law no. 17/2022, of 17 August, which…
The DMA will start to apply in March 2024. The European Commission (EC) has acquired the compromise to make the process of the DMA’s future implementation, monitoring and oversight of compliance as transparent as possible. After the first two stakeholders’ workshops on the ban on self-preferencing and interoperability relating to messaging services, on the 6th of…
You’ve probably all seen the terror ChatGPT has unleashed on white collars, from research analysts to copywriters, over the past two months. What about lawyers, economists, or paralegals working in competition law? Let’s summarise for those who haven’t heard yet: ChatGPT is a chatbot created by OpenAI. It became the fastest-growing app in history, reaching…
A new era of cartel enforcement Competition authorities worldwide have historically focused on investigating classic cartel practices, such as price fixing, market sharing, and exchanging commercially sensitive information. These practices are primarily investigated in traditional markets, such as pharmaceuticals, technology, and retail. However, in recent years, an increasing number of antitrust agencies have been focusing…
Below we cover the main competition law developments in Spain in 2022, concerning (i) institutions, (ii) restrictive agreements, (ii) abuse of dominance, (iii) procedure, (iv) mergers, and (v) the internal market. The selection, as usual with these lists, is inherently subjective. The authors note that they have favoured a broader selection of issues to include…
In its judgement on 17 February 2023, Norway’s Supreme Court quashed the Norwegian Competition Authority’s prohibition of the 2019 acquisition of tech start-up Nettbil by media conglomerate Schibsted. This is the very first merger case heard by the Norwegian courts and represents an important development in Norwegian merger control. Prohibition of a Below-Threshold Transaction…
The DMA will start to apply in March 2024. The European Commission (EC) has acquired the compromise to make the process of the DMA’s future implementation, monitoring and oversight of compliance as transparent as possible. After the first stakeholders’ workshop on the ban on self-preferencing, on the 27th of February, the Commission held its second workshop…
* This entry is a re-post of the contributor’s CCM Blog post, find link here. On 24 January 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice (‘DoJ’), joined by multiple U.S. States including California and New York, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google alleging that the “industry behemoth […] has corrupted legitimate competition in the ad…
Significant amendments to Canada’s Competition Act (Act) dominated discussion about Canadian competition law policy and enforcement in 2022. Given the full implementation of the first round of amendments and the formal commencement of public consultation on further amendments, potential legislative reforms are certain to remain at the forefront of Canadian competition law discourse in 2023….
Summary The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) published a 157-page report on 9th February 2023 (see here the press release), focusing on issues in the market structure and the lack of competitive pressure in the markets of essential software for smartphones (mobile OS) and app distribution services, both of which Apple and Google mainly provide….
