Advocate General, Fundamental rights, References for a preliminary ruling, Regulation

(Backer McKenzie)/ /Leave a comment

“In many places across the European Union, suppliers of taxi services have traditionally been shielded from competition thanks to State regulation, while web-based platforms have started offering local passenger transport-on-demand services with a high degree of zeal, precision and efficiency”. The previous statement was one of the opening lines of the Opinion issued by Advocate…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Facebook, Germany, Google, Privacy, Regulation

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Last 23 December 2022, the Bundeskartellamt, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), sent a statement of objections (SOO) to Google regarding its data processing terms. This SOO follows the Bundeskartellamt’s prior designation as an undertaking with paramount significance for competition across markets under the German DMA-like provision of Section 19a GWB. Looking at the SOO and…

Antitrust Writing Award

(University of Vienna, Austria) and (University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

In 2022, we had many interesting and well written blogposts on the Kluwer Competition Law Blog. We are delighted to see that some of them got shortlisted for the 2022 Antitrust Writing Awards. Congratulations on this great achievement!   Please vote for these brilliant pieces: Till Steinvorth (Noerr): European Commission Changes its Policy on Providing…

Abuse of dominance, European Court of Justice, European Union

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

On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of the railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law (Bronner), the Court confirmed that the Bronner case law did not apply to the deliberate destruction of State-owned infrastructure…

Australia, Brazil, Egypt, European Union, Merger control, Merger notification, Mergers, Ukraine

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

Key Highlights The Ukraine War: Merger filing activity in Ukraine was down 61% compared to 2021, but the Ukrainian competition authority throughout 2022 reviewed over 300 mergers and continued to initiate merger investigations. Brazil filing activity rose steeply, up 47% compared to the five-year average for the same period (January – November) and up 6%…

Competition enforcement, Competition law, Competition Law 2022, Merger control, Slovakia

, , (Havel & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

The level of enforcement of competition law in Slovakia in 2022 was noticeably lower compared to previous years. Outside merger control, where the Slovak Antimonopoly Office’s (AMO) activity is less influenced by its leadership, the AMO was rather inactive. It issued no relevant decisions in the area of restrictive agreements and carried out only a…

As Efficient Competitor, Sustainability, Tax, United States of America

(European University Institute)/ /Leave a comment

Competition law mainly deals with microeconomic issues. Price theory orients its application, with price, supply, demand, and information being important parameters. However, microeconomics does not have a monopoly on influencing competition and competition law. Macroeconomic developments have roles to play as well. These roles may materialize in the form of monetary and budgetary policies. For…

Brexit, China, Competition policy, European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Merger control, Private investment, Property investment, Public procurement, Regulation, Remedies, State owned enterprise (SOE), Subsidies, Switzerland, Tax, Taxation, Tender, Trade Law, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /Leave a comment

On 12 January 2023, the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) entered into force. The majority of the FSR will start to apply on 12 July 2023. The FSR constitutes a new investigatory review tool for the European Commission. It will focus on economic behaviour on the internal market by companies who received foreign subsidies…

Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Procedures

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The European Commission has begun the process of creating implementing provisions to ensure the effective enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Implementing provisions plague the DMA’s functioning, but the EC has started to fulfil the first of its tasks: to lay down the form, content and other details of notification and submissions pursuant to…

Anticompetitive agreements, Information exchange, Türkiye, United Kingdom

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) of the UK has fined Germany-based Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (“BMW AG”), the ultimate parent company of the BMW Group, for failure to comply fully with a written information request without reasonable excuse through its decision of 6 December 2022 (“CMA Decision”). The fine includes a fixed amount…