Abuse of dominance, Competition law, European Union, HBER, Regulation, Supply chain, Sustainability, VBER, Vertical agreements, Vertical restraints

(European University Institute)/ /Leave a comment

In European competition law, both Article 101 and 102 TFEU inquiries require a contextual approach to the dispute at hand. Since enforcers must consider any agreement or business activity within the economic, legal, and factual context of which it forms part, regulatory regimes become important guideposts for any competition analysis. This point has been emphasized…

Competition law, ECN, Gun jumping, Ireland, Leniency, Merger control

(DLA Piper Ireland)/ /Leave a comment

On 29 June 2022, Ireland enacted major reforms to its Competition Act.  These changes will impact on all sectors across the Irish economy, with potential target industries such as Life Sciences, Energy, Technology and Consumer Goods facing increased scrutiny – particularly as Ireland is a key HQ location for EMEA operations.  While the reforms belatedly…

Canada, Labour market, No-poach-agreement

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /1 Comment

Competition authorities globally continue to focus attention on potential anticompetitive conduct affecting labour markets, with a particular emphasis on “wage-fixing” and “no-poaching” agreements. Although Canada was somewhat late in addressing this issue, the federal government has now passed amendments to the Canadian Competition Act that criminalize wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements between parties. In enacting this…

Abuse of dominance, As Efficient Competitor, Economics, Effects-based, Fundamental rights, General Court of the European Union, Procedures

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

The General Court of the European Union delivered a blow to the European Commission in fully annulling its Qualcomm (exclusivity payments) decision of 2018 and a EUR 997 million fine. Qualcomm v Commission[1] is the first annulment of an Article 102 TFEU decision adopted by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The judgment is notably based on the…

Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Union

(Universität Würzburg)/ /Leave a comment

The rapid development of digital markets has been posing major challenges to competition authorities for some time. The ‘internet giants’ consisting of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft have as already known been able to gain and consolidate strong market positions faster than in analogue markets. The previous antitrust law was, according to the own…

Aviation, Canada, Foreign direct investment

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

The discussion of foreign investment law in Canada usually centres around the net benefit and national security review provisions of the Investment Canada Act (ICA). However, foreign investors must also be aware of different sector-specific laws in Canada that impose limits on foreign ownership of businesses in those sectors, including whether they exercise “control in…

Abuse of dominance, Competition law, Data protection, European Union, Facebook, Germany, Poland, Privacy, United Kingdom

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

In the wake of the recent hearing of the CJEU in the German Facebook case, this post assesses two common views on the integration of competition law and privacy policy, providing a general overview of the debate we are currently facing and reflecting on its apparent future.   How privacy is relevant for competition law?…

Labour market, No-poach-agreement, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

The labor market has gradually increased its place on the agenda of competition law, especially in the last ten years. No-poaching agreements (agreements between competitors to not transfer employees from each other) come first among the elements that constitute the subject of competition law in the labor market. Like the other competition authorities, the Turkish…

Austria, Competition law, Guidelines, Sustainability

(Wolf Theiss)/ /Leave a comment

On 1 June 2022, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (‘FCA’) published its draft Sustainability Guidelines (‘Guidelines’) to provide guidance for assessing ecological/environmental sustainability agreements under the new sustainability exemption recently introduced in Austrian antitrust law (§ 2 para 1 of the Austrian Cartel Act).   Background The new sustainability exemption was introduced by the Austrian…

European Union, General Court of the European Union, Gun jumping, Merger control

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

On 18 May 2022, the EU General Court (the “GC”) upheld the European Commission’s (the “EC”) €28 million fine imposed on Canon for gun-jumping in the context of a (somewhat unique) so-called warehousing structure. The judgment confirms that structures such as the one at issue are not allowed under EU law without an express derogation…