On January 30 2019, the Danish Competition Council (the “DCC”) found that ambulance services provider, Falck, had abused its dominant position under Article 102 TFEU. The DCC held that following a failed tender bid to the Region of Southern Denmark, the company devised a comprehensive internal and external communications’ strategy to make it difficult for…
In M&A transactions, the assessment of foreign investment filings routinely needs to be part of the diligence, including for industries that, at first glance, do not appear to be the most critical ones from a national security standpoint (e.g. consumer goods, dating apps, base chemicals and healthcare products). One of the challenges for companies and advisors is that new foreign investment regimes are…
Jio’s Onslaught of the Indian Telecommunication Market On 5th September, 2016 Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited(RJIL) (hereinafter referred as ‘Jio’) released its free data and voice scheme ‘Jio welcome offer’ which was further extended till December. Next, it introduced ‘Happy new year offer’ which extended the previous plan till 31 March, 2017. Even in 2018 and…
In 2018 the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) had issued three landmark decisions regarding the Turkish electricity sector. These decisions concern the largest incumbent companies operating providing electricity distribution and retail sale services in various regions of Turkey, namely; CK[1], Enerjisa[2] and Bereket[3]. In these three decisions, the TCA had imposed total fines amounting to TRY…
The trend to digitalization has captured the economies of almost all progressive and developing countries and influenced activities of companies doing business in Russia, as well. As the Federal Antimonopoly Service (“FAS Russia”) stressed, the markets are becoming more complicated and digital. It means that virtually every company that has a computer could be considered…
The Federal Council aims at tightening up the Cartel Act in order to combat the foreclosure of the Swiss market and the price discrimination against Swiss corporate customers. For this purpose, the Federal Council has adopted a draft bill and a dispatch to Parliament addressing the people’s initiative “stop Switzerland’s high prices – the fair…
Introduction The Competition Commission of India (CCI) recently rendered a decision in the matter of Jasper Infotech v. KAFF Appliances[1], wherein it found that KAFF Appliances’ conduct did not cause Resale Price Maintenance (RPM), and thus did not infringe the Competition Act. However, in the course of this decision, the CCI recognized that online marketplaces,…
Following the political shake-up in Europe and the severance of the EPP and S&D combined majority, horse-trading with other political parties within the European Parliament over the next 5 years is inevitable. In addition, the upcoming new Commission President and the new College of Commissioners are expected to establish the political priorities that will shape…
On June 4, 2019, the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal quashed the decision of the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) prohibiting Booking.com to operate so-called narrow most favored nation (MFN) clauses (or best price clauses) on its hotel booking platform with hotels in Germany, see press release here. It thereby set a (preliminary) end to a long saga…
We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Wouter P.J. Wils, Independence of Competition Authorities: The Example of the EU and Its Member States At the end of 2018, the European Parliament and Council adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1, often referred to…
