Apple, Designation Decision, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, European Commission

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The DMA seeks to capture gatekeeper conduct. For that, the regulation applies to those targets of the regulation satisfying the legal category of a gatekeeper. If an undertaking is not a gatekeeper as per a designation decision issued by the European Commission (EC), then it will not remain captured by the regulatory instrument. In September…

World Competition Law and Economics Review

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We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions:   Michael G. Aguinaldo, Reflections and Musings from My First Year as Chairperson of a Young Competition Authority When the Philippines passed into law its competition act in 2015, it was one of the…

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

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) entails a change in the narrative of the punitive framework applied to digital dominant undertakings under EU competition law. At least, that’s what the European’s digital strategy proposed it to be. The failure of antitrust followed a new paradigm in applying per se rules to gatekeepers, based on cooperative-like mechanisms…

Cartels, Damages, Economics, Estimation, Spain

(IE Law School)/ /1 Comment

Introduction Nowadays, it is not uncommon for Spanish courts to have to rule on disputes where there is uniformity in the facts and the applicable legal rules. In civil courts, mass litigation arose as a result of nullity suits filed by consumers in banking and financial matters regarding contracts for the subscription of banking products…

General Court of the European Union, Judicial review, MEO Principle, State aid

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Introduction By judgment of 10 April 2024, the General Court (GC) annulled  Decision 19.4.2018 –  SA.37433 of the European Commission (EC) finding that Danish legislation concerning charges for wastewater treatment did not constitute State aid. In my view, the GC misapplied the Market Economy Operator Principle (MEOP) in this case when it assessed the legislation…

Belgium, Competition Law 2023

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2023 proved another fruitful year for the Belgian competition law scene. The ambitious agenda of the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) resulted in a busy and impressive enforcement record. To sum up a couple of highlights in a single sentence, the BCA: was the first competition authority to apply the landmark Towercast judgment, conducted several sectoral…

Competition Law 2023, Cyprus

, , (Harris Kyriakides)/ /Leave a comment

Although 2023 was not a year of significant changes to the competition legislative landscape in Cyprus, it witnessed the implementation of competition law developments from 2022, in both substantive and ancillary legislation.   Regulatory background In Cyprus, competition law is governed by the Protection of Competition Law of 2022 (Law No. 13(I)/2022). Law 13(I)/2022, in…

AI, Dawn raids, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Investigations

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In light of recent information about new probes under the DMA and the DSA, and the growing interest in enforcement of the draft AI Act, we decided to explore what investigatory powers are available to the European Commission and local authorities under these regulations, and more specifically how the enforcing authorities can conduct dawn raids…

Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Google, National court, Poland, Self-preferencing, Unfair competition, Unfair practices

(Akademia Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości)/ /Leave a comment

In a preliminary ruling issued on 14 March 2024, the District Court in Warsaw (DCW) granted Ceneo Ltd. an interim injunction in respect of non-monetary claims against Google Ireland Ltd. to cease acts of unfair competition on the Polish territory, consisting in the creation of market entry barriers for the plaintiff. This ruling precedes (temporarily…

Advantage, Advocate General, Restriction by effect, Restriction by object, Sport

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On 30 April 2024, AG Szpunar issued his Opinion in Case C-650/22, FIFA v BZ. This gives the Court an opportunity to revisit and apply the December 2023 trilogy of sports cases decided by the Grand Chamber, which I have discussed in the Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo and which have been nicely contextualized by…