Background On 3rd June 2019, CCI delivered yet another order, wherein it held the Madhya Pradesh Chemists & Druggists Association along with other district-level Associations and Pharma Companies to be in contravention of the Competition Act.[1] According to the commission, the practice of demanding ‘No Objection Certificates’ (NOCs) or ‘Letters of Consent’ (LOCs) by the…
Abstract In its recent decision V2018-22 the Norwegian Competition Authority (‘NCA’) approved – subject to remedies – the acquisition by Sector Alarm AS (“Sector”) of the small systems business of Nokas AS (“Nokas”) in the household alarm market and a non-controlling 49,99 % stake in Nokas. The decision marks the first ever intervention against minority…
On 16th April 2019, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered a probe against the multinational technology company, Google, for abusing its dominant position in clear violation of Section 4 of the (Indian) Competition Act, 2002 (‘Act’).[1] The present case was filed under Section 19(1)(a) of the Act, alleging Google LLC and Google India Private…
Introduction The collection of household waste (HHW) in Ireland is currently a private sector activity. Individual households contract with private operators for the provision of the service. Subject to fulfilling certain regulatory requirements any private operator can enter the HHW collection market and by offering better terms and conditions – competing on the merits –…
On 1 July 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) made public three sets of regulations to implement China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML): the Interim Regulation Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements (SAMR Agreements Regulation); the Interim Regulation Prohibiting Conduct Abusing Dominant Market Positions (SAMR Abuse of Dominance Regulation); and the Interim Regulation Preventing Conduct Abusing Administrative Rights…
Introduction The growth of e-commerce over the last decade has had a significant impact on most if not all retail markets. Trends like the increased importance of online sales, price transparency and the emergence of new market players such as online platforms significantly affected the distribution and pricing strategies of both manufacturers and retailers, not…
At the time of writing, there is still a lot of uncertainty as regards the question of whether the United Kingdom will leave the European Union with an exit deal on 31 October 2019. However, what is clear is that State aid regulation will continue in the UK irrespective of the way in which the…
Introduction When competition law is considered, first issues that come to mind are anticompetitive agreements between competitors, abusive unilateral practices of dominant undertakings and mergers that restrict competition in relevant product or service markets. The foregoing practices are condemned as they lead to an increase in the end-user prices in the short or the long…
Introduction The Authority for Consumers and Markets (“ACM“, the Dutch competition authority) was in 2017 – after years of silence – finally able to fine an undertaking for abuse of dominance. A heavy fine of almost € 41 million was imposed on the state-owned Dutch railway operator N.V. Nederlandse Spoorwegen (“NS“). According to ACM, NS abused…
Introduction In May 2019, Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has published two reasoned decisions, namely Bfit Decision[1] and Minikoli Decision[2], in which it assesses the resale price maintenance (“RPM”) activities of the concerned undertakings. These decisions bear significance since they represent the TCA’s unstable approach towards RPM activities. In the aforementioned cases, the TCA adopted an…
