Chinese antitrust is going through what are likely the most important changes since its inception: an amendment of the Anti-Monopoly Law and the establishment of a new enforcement body. Anti-Monopoly Law amendment On 23 October 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress – China’s legislature – published a draft revision of the…
On the 20th of September of 2021, the Egyptian Competition Authority “ECA” and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority “NTRA” announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the main purpose to establish a Joint Executive Committee seeking enhancement of free competition in Egypt’s telecom market. Both agencies branded such a step as a major step forward…
There is a lot of hype about the Spanish FDI regulations introduced by a number of Royal Decrees in 2020: fines of up to the value of the deal, non-controlling acquisition of shares can potentially trigger a filing, etc. And yet, prior to 2020, Spain already had FDI provisions on the books. These pre-2020 FDI…
The European Union (EU) is readying revolutionary new powers for the European Commission (the Commission) to combat distortions of competition resulting from subsidies from non-EU governments. The new regime, laid out in a proposed regulation (the Anti-Subsidy Regulation) published in May 2021, could be in effect as soon as mid-2023. The regulation includes new mandatory notification…
On 20 September 2021, the Portuguese Competition Court approved a settlement between Ius Omnibus, a non-profit consumer protection association, and the National Association of Land Surveyors (ANT), in the context of a class action filed by Ius Omnibus intended to obtain compensation for the damages suffered by consumers as a result of ANT’s allegedly anticompetitive…
The long-awaited Google Shopping judgment is out (see the press release here and the full decision here). The General Court has dismissed Google’s action almost in its entirety, upholding the fine of € 2.42 billion that the EU Commission issued in 2017 on the company for abusing its dominance as a search engine by favouring…
In a speech on 22 October 2021, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager revealed that the European Commission was planning a series of dawn raids for the months to come. She highlighted that the European Commission is not just looking to investigate traditional cartels, like price-fixing agreements, but also other types of anti-competitive conduct – such…
On 9th November 2021, the Commercial Court of Moscow will decide an antitrust case between Russian insurance companies (PJSC Rosgosstrakh and LLC Capital Insurance of Life) and the Federal Antimonopoly Services (FAS). The FAS had previously declared an agreement between the two insurance companies invalid. The case concerns the blurring lines between cartels and other agreements in Russian antitrust law. Particularly the standard of proof concerning “other agreements restricting competition” needs to be…
The Norwegian Competition Authority has issued a draft paper on abusive (price) discrimination, outlining how the agency plans to approach the matter, which should be most welcome. Essentially, the legal position is at best unclear, creating room for misapplications. The otherwise famous Post Danmark I case, e.g., originated in a misguided national attempt to apply…
The Australian Government has released the Exposure Draft legislation and Explanatory Materials for an anticipated suite of reforms to unfair contract terms (UCT) laws found in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act). Treasury is now considering feedback on the exposure draft with a view to the…
