Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, National competition authorities (NCAs), National court

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was initially designed according to a centralised system of enforcement. At least, that was the configuration the European Commission presented within its first draft of the regulation. During the legislative process, the DMA’s enforcement system slightly pivoted to a quasi-centralised system of enforcement. National competition authorities (NCAs) of the Member…

European Court of Justice, Fines, Interest

, (White & Case) and (White & Case, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The European Court of Justice has issued its judgment in Deutsche Telekom confirming that the European Commission must pay “a standard rate” of interest to companies that have been awarded a reduction or annulment of their antitrust fine on appeal. The European Commission must now apply this clear ruling to a number of claims for…

Egypt, Legislation, Mergers

(Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law)/ /1 Comment

On 4th of April 2024, Egypt’s Prime Minister issued a decree by which the Executive Regulations of Competition Law No. (3) of 2005 was amended to put in detail the changes that had been made to the said Law introducing Egypt’s first pre-merger control regime. This blog post sheds light on the role of the…

Canada, Merger control, Minority shareholding

, (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On April 23, 2024, the Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau) issued its report (Report) on the proposed acquisition of Viterra Limited (Viterra) by Bunge Limited (Bunge), concluding that the transaction (Proposed Transaction) is likely to result in substantial anticompetitive effects in certain agricultural markets in Canada. Bunge and Viterra are both multinational agribusiness companies. In…

Competition policy, Denmark, Fines, Legislation, Mergers

(University of Copenhagen) and (Bech-Bruun)/ /Leave a comment

In May 2024, the Danish Parliament adopted a major overhaul of the Danish Competition Act, including introducing higher fines, a new competition tool, and a merger call-in option, effective from 1 July 2024. In particular, the call-in option will have drastic consequences, and in the future all mergers involving Danish activities could potentially become notifiable….

Brazil, Competition policy, Digital markets

(Global Antitrust Institute)/ /Leave a comment

May 2nd, 2024 was the last day to submit comments to the Public Consultation (Economic and Competitive Aspects of Digital Platforms) held by the Brazilian Ministry of Finance. The Consultation, which was released on January 19, 2024 and had one deadline extension, was designed and organized by the Secretary for Economics Reforms – one of…

Competition Law 2023, United Kingdom

, (Pinsent Masons LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Continuing with the trend from previous years, important competition law and policy developments emerged in the UK during 2023. Amongst other things, highly anticipated proposals for major legislative reform were finally introduced in the UK Parliament, the UK’s competition and sector authorities continued to handle a substantial enforcement caseload, whilst the UK government continued to…

ECN, Fines, Guidelines, Poland

, (KRK Kieszkowska, Rutkowska, Kolasiński law firm)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction In April 2024, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumers Protection (the “PCA”) introduced new guidelines for setting fines in antitrust cases (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines are the only document of this type issued by the PCA. Other fields of actions of the PCA, e.g. violations of consumer law, do not have…

Brazil, Guidelines, Merger control

(Universidade de São Paulo)/ /Leave a comment

The Brazilian Competition Authority – CADE – has just recently published its Guidelines for Non-Horizontal Merger Reviews, which consolidate and formalize the competition authority’s best practices in reviewing vertical and conglomerate mergers (the “V+ Guidelines”). The V+ Guidelines complement CADE’s 2016 Horizontal Mergers Guidelines and other relevant documents that have been published by the Brazilian…

Art. 22, European Commission, Guidance, Innovation, Market definition, Merger control, Merger regulation, Merger Thresholds, Sustainability

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

Many of the most challenging transactions reviewed under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) in recent years involved their likely effects on non-price competitive factors: innovation; quality and product differentiation; data protection and privacy; sustainability; and capacity and reliability of supply.  These topics are discussed briefly, or not at all, in the Commission’s guidelines on the…