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…
It is almost impossible these days to attend a competition law conference without the topic of ‘Competition law in the digital era’ making up part of the agenda. In addition, enforcers are publishing policy documents on this topic at a rate that makes it a challenge to keep up for even the most diligent competition…
While Ukraine has been making headlines over the past few months with the presidential elections, there have also been several notable news items regarding Ukrainian merger control. At the end of April, two record fines for merger control violations – in the amounts of EUR 1.9 million and EUR 1.8 million – were imposed by…
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central banking institution created an inter-regulatory Working Group (WG) in July 2016 to study the scope and potential of FinTech and review the regulatory framework with which the industry has to comply. The goal of this exercise was to make rules and regulations more suitable for the ever-evolving…
