On 22 July 2019, the European Commission published a new State aid Recovery Notice on its website (publication in the Official Journal of the European Union will follow).[1] The new Notice replaces the Recovery Notice of 2007[2] which was introduced to address the slow and sometimes inadequate implementation of State aid recovery decisions by EU…
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CANADIAN MERGER REVIEW: NEW COMMISSIONER MEANS NEW ENFORCEMENT AGENDA Anita Banicevic, Charles Tingley, Mark Katz In March 2019, Matthew Boswell was appointed to head the Canadian Competition Bureau (“Bureau”) as the country’s newest Commissioner of Competition (“Commissioner”). In that capacity, Mr. Boswell is responsible for the enforcement and administration of Canada’s Competition Act (Act”), including…
Flashback In January 2019, the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (“BCPC”) issued a Statement of Objections against in total 24 Bulgarian undertakings for bid-rigging in public procurement procedures under the National Program for Energy Efficiency of Multifamily Residential Buildings (“Energy Efficiency Program”), carried out in the municipalities of Targovishte (Northeast Bulgaria) and Gotse Delchev (Southwest…
325 days from first filing, the CCPC just recently cleared Live Nation’s acquisition of sole control of Irish concert promoter, MCD Productions, a merger of Ireland’s largest ticketing company and venue operator with the country’s biggest concert and event promoter. Days later, the CCPC announced clearance of a three-to-two merger among Irish providers of commercial…
In the last week of June 2019, a copy of a ground-breaking court ruling emerged on social media in China – the order by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in the case between Yutai Technology Feed (Yutai) and the Hainan Price Bureau. The order provides a direct answer to the question of whether or not…
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…
