At the beginning of August 2018, the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (“BCPC”) opened proceedings against a local company for non-notification of an acquisition of another undertaking. Such proceedings are very rare, and the last fine for a similar breach in Bulgaria was in 2012. The undertaking acquiring control – Agria Group Holding AD…
On 24 July 2018, the European Commission (“Commission”) fined, in four separate decisions, consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer for imposing fixed or minimum resale prices on their online retailers. The total fine imposed on the four manufacturers amounts to more than EUR 111 million. The infringements related to a variety of…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and two Dallas therapist staffing companies have settled charges that they conspired to fix the wages of contract therapists in violation of the federal antitrust laws. This is the FTC’s first enforcement action under its joint guidelines with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on hiring and compensation issued in 2016. …
Document requests issued by the EU Commission (EC) have become common in complex EU merger cases. A few years ago, the EC would only ask for several hundred documents in such cases – now it has become standard to request several hundred thousand documents from each of the parties to the transaction, often within a short time period (once…
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is consulting on proposed revisions[1]The CMA’s consultation document, and the Draft Revised Guidance, are available at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/revised-guidance-on-competition-disqualification-orders. to its current guidance on director disqualification in competition law cases (the “Current Guidance”).[2]The Current Guidance is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/competition-disqualification-orders. The consultation on the CMA’s proposed revised guidance (the “Draft Revised…
On 16 July 2018, the EU Commission (EC) adopted its “Code of Best Practices for the conduct of State aid control procedure” (Best Practices). The Code replaces the Notice on a Code of Best Practices adopted in 2009 (2009 Code) and integrates the Simplified Procedure Notice of 2009. Over recent years, the EC has implemented…
As parents we tell our children that “sharing is caring” and “never be afraid to ask for help”. Although these are generally virtuous notions and good lessons to live by, they could easily get businesses into serious trouble with competition authorities. And even get you fined heavily or put in prison. Most businesses know very…
The products and services surrounding mobile phones (e.g. mobile apps, browsers, search engines) have already proved to be a separate marketing tool for undertakings. This has triggered and created new challenges for competition law enforcement. Indeed, the competition authorities have had to deal with defining new relevant product markets and evaluating their market dynamics. In…
The EU General Court recently upheld an infringement decision of the EU Commission (EC), in which the investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) was found jointly and severally liable for violating Article 101 TFEU as a result of indirectly owning / holding a stake in Prysmian, a company who participated in cartel activities relating to high…
Gun-jumping relates to the premature implementation of a transaction prior to obtaining clearance from the relevant competition authorities. It is currently a “hot topic” as enforcement levels across the globe have increased significantly in recent years. In April 2018, the European Commission (EC) imposed a gun-jumping fine of €124.5 million on the multinational cable and…
