Bid-rigging, Bulgaria, Cartels, Public procurement

(Eversheds Sutherland, Bulgaria) and (Tsvetkova, Bebov and Partners)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Commitments, Ireland, Merger control

(McCann FitzGerald) and (McCann Fitzgerald)/ /Leave a comment

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…

India, Trade associations, Vertical agreements

(Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Merger control, Minority shareholding, Norway

, (Arntzen de Besche)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Abuse of dominance, Google, India

(Gujarat National Law University)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Ex ante regulatory assessment, Ex post regulatory assessment, Household waste policy, Ireland

(The Economic and Social Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin)/ /Leave a comment

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 –…

Abuse of dominance, Administrative monopoly, Anticompetitive agreements, China

(Hogan Lovells, China)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Competition law, E-commerce, Keyword bidding, Online advertising restrictions

(Bird & Bird, The Netherlands) and (Bird & Bird)/ /4 Comments

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…

Brexit, European Union, State aid, United Kingdom

(Pinsent Masons LLP)/ /Leave a comment

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…