It would no longer be surprising to see competition or regulatory authorities blaming digital platforms for favouring their own services on their own platforms. In particular, in Europe, seeing the General Court’s Google decisions (see e.g., Johannes Persch’s blog posts on Shopping and Android) and the self-preferencing obligation of the Digital Markets Act (see, e.g.,…
Introduction If we are to summarise competition law developments of Turkey for 2022 in a few headlines, these would include the amendments to the merger control thresholds, the exceptions introduced for the technology undertakings with a view to catching killer acquisitions, the increased scrutiny over online platforms, the closer relationship between competition law and data,…
Facts and court proceedings Before the start of the liberalization process in 1999 with Legislative Decree 79/1999 (“Decreto Bersani”), the Italian electricity market was run singlehandedly by the Ente Nazionale Energia Elettrica (Enel), born with the nationalization of electricity in 1962. As the former Italian legal monopolist, Enel was integrated into all stages of the…
Introduction 2022 was an eventful year for competition law in India. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) operated optimally approving combinations notified before it in reasonable timelines, conducting significant dawn raids, passing notable orders that made international headlines, and conducting market studies. The anticipated amendments to the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) were discussed ad nauseum…
On 10 January 2023, the European Commission (Commission) published Draft guidelines on the application of a new EU antitrust exemption for sustainability agreements involving producers of agricultural products (the Draft Guidelines). Article 210a of Regulation (EU) 1308/2013 (CMO Regulation), which entered into effect in early 2022, exempts restrictions of competition in agreements that are indispensable…
In Denmark, the Danish Competition Council is the principal enforcer of competition law with the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority acting as the day-to-day caretaker, including rendering decisions in (minor) cases. Decisions from either the Competition and Consumer Authority and the Competition Council may be appealed to the Danish Competition Appeals Board or the judiciary,…
Lawmakers and Amazon.com are involved in a constant cat-and-mouse game. Amazon.com is the big winner when consumers and businesses extensively use its digital ecosystem. As a reaction, lawmakers regulate big tech companies to protect end users and business users. This blog post argues that these regulations are not always effective and that their application is…
With 2022 now in hindsight, it is time to take stock of what happened in the Swedish competition law arena during the first post-pandemic year. To sum up, after a relatively long period with little or no action in the competition field, the Swedish Competition Authority (the SCA) is once again picking up speed and…
On 16 January 2023, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (the “COMESA” or the “Common Market”) Competition Appeals Board (the “Appeals Board”) published its seminal decision upholding the commitments provided by the Confédération Africaine de Football (the “CAF”) in relation to contracts for the commercialization of CAF’s media and marketing rights (the “Intermediation…
Year at a glance 2022 brought a major legislative overhaul, with the Slovenian parliament adopting a new Competition Act (“Competition Act”; sl. Zakon o preprečevanju omejevanja konkurence 2). While turnover thresholds remained unchanged, the Competition Act introduced the much-awaited simplified notification procedure (akin to Short Form CO). Despite the inflationary environment and raising interest rates,…
