On 9 March 2021, the Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’) granted two hotel franchisees (Treebo and Fab Hotels) (‘Complainants’) interim relief against the hotel aggregator, MakeMyTrip India Pvt. Ltd. and the Ibibo Group Private Limited (‘MMT-GO’) (‘Interim Order’).[1] CCI directed MMT-GO to re-list Treebo and Fab Hotels on its website. Two things make the order…
On March 4, 2021, the Court of Justice (‘CJEU’) delivered a judgment in the State aid case Fútbol Club Barcelona (C-362/19 P), quashing the ruling of the General Court of February 26, 2019 (T-865/16) and upholding the Commission’s Decision of July 3, 2016 (SA.29769). In its judgment, the CJEU provided helpful guidance to assess the…
In the last decade, the EU scene has been characterised by a more flexible application of State aid rules, partially due to the persistent emergencies across the continent. But this trend has not significantly affected the application of Art. 106(2) TFEU or, more generally, the rules governing the financing of services of general economic interest…
The ECN+ Directive requires all EU Member States to confer upon their national competition authorities certain enforcement and sanctioning powers. The Danish implementing act, no. L 116 (link only available in Danish), was passed by the Danish Parliament on 9 February 2021. Although the ECN+ Directive was adopted on 11 December 2018, and therefore well-known…
In its judgment of 25 February 2021 in the case of Slovak Telekom, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) reaffirmed its jurisprudence on the ne bis in idem rule and clarifies its relationship and functioning with art. 11 (6) of Regulation 1/2003. Judging from the facts as they are presented in the ECJ’s ruling, the…
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair, Rod Sims, has announced the ACCC’s 2021 compliance and enforcement policy and priorities. The focus of the ACCC’s 2021 priorities is reflective of its: continuation of its unfinished “to do” list in a COVID-19 interrupted 2020 enduring/ongoing priorities, such as the prosecution of cartel conduct (with two to…
The General Court’s judgment in CK Telecoms[1] annulling the European Commission’s (“Commission”) 2016 prohibition decision of the UK mobile merger raised quite a bit of interest beyond the Brussels competition bar, particularly with European telecom companies, who have long argued that the Commission has taken a far too strict stance on in-country market consolidation. Mobile…
Amidst a never-ending stream of news related to COVID-19, it went somewhat under the radar that another European flag carrier airline has been grounded – Montenegro Airlines. The halt of operations of the airline up came as a result of the inability of the government to further subsidize the loss-making carrier, due to state aid…
The legal impact of exiting the European Union after 47 years of membership, a growing focus on digital markets, and increasingly robust enforcement by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) are among the defining developments in UK competition law and policy during 2020. In addition, as with many jurisdictions worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has had…
On 14 January 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) confirmed that participation in a bid-rigging cartel ends when the basic characteristics of the contract between the “successful” tenderer and the contracting (public) authority are determined (C-450/19 – Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto, ECLI:EU:C:2021:10). This has a major impact on the limitation period, which…
