In 2016, a public initiative was launched in Switzerland, requesting amendments to the Cartel Act in order to enforce non-discriminatory procurement of goods and services abroad by Swiss purchasers. Furthermore, the initiative requested the introduction of rules against geo-blocking in the Unfair Competition Act. This so-called “Fair-Price Initiative” is backed by various consumer, hotel, gastronomy…
On 17 March 2021, the European Commission (EC) has published the results of its public consultation on the review of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER). Key Points The automotive sector is under surveillance as it has been affected by a number of EC-issued cartel decisions in the last few years. Distribution systems and…
On 12 March 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China’s competition authority responsible for the enforcement of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML), has announced ten decisions imposing maximum fines for the failure to notify economic concentrations under the applicable merger control rules. The sanctions targeted China’s leading tech companies, which have been recently subjected…
We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Marco Botta The Challenge of Sanctioning Unfair Royalty Rate by the SEP Holder: ‘When’, ‘How’ and ‘What’ The holder of a Standard Essential Patent (SEP) is usually required to license its patent to…
On 21 January 2021, the Ukrainian Supreme Court (Supreme Court) annulled one of the highest fines of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) for gun-jumping. The judgement upheld the lower courts’ decisions, which in turn quashed the AMC’s 2019 decision to impose approx. EUR 1.9 million on a Ukrainian group subsidiary for the acquisition of…
Major amendments to competition legislation are expected to add more bite to the bark of Sweden’s antitrust watchdog. On 1 March 2021, the Swedish Competition Authority (SCA) gained a number of new powers and introduced some related changes to its routines. Specific to Sweden but with broader resonance in real terms, this is a good…
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…
