The General Court (GC) ruling of September 26 in Case T-574/14 constitutes an important (and possibly final) episode in the European Union’s (EU) review of the Spanish “dual pricing” and parallel trade saga. The GC found that the European Commission was not obliged to adopt a new decision as to whether an agreement GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had put…
M&A and other transactions involving foreign companies might sometimes raise national security concerns in specific areas of the economy such as military, dual use, advanced technology, etc. To mitigate those concerns, national governments dealing with a great number of transactions used to establish the strategic investment regimes. In many jurisdictions, strategic investment regime requires either…
On September 4, 2018, the German Ministry for Economic Affairs has published a report by economic and legal experts analyzing some key issues of abuse of market power in the digital platform economy (see an English summary here.) The report provides an overview of the status quo and recommendations, and is understood to be the…
The National Company Law Tribunal (hereinafter ‘NCLAT’) on September 19, 2018, passed an order which set aside the penalty of 87 crores imposed on Hyundai Motor India Limited by the Competition Commission of India.[1]Hyundai Motors India Limited v Competition Commission of India, Competition Appeal (AT) No 6/2017. One of the primary reasons for the penalty…
A fragmented legal landscape In April 2018, the European Commission revealed a proposal for a directive on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the food supply chain. The proposal comes in response to concerns about power imbalances in the food supply chain – an issue which has been in the eyes of competition authorities…
Predatory Pricing is often described as pricing of any commodity below a suitable value for the purpose of ousting competitors in the short run and abating competition in the long run. A practice which is detrimental to both competitors and competition, the same proves to be a barrier for market growth as well. Usually, the…
On 18 September 2018, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA“) announced that Heathrow airport (“Heathrow“) will pay a fine of £1.6 million in relation to an infringement of UK competition law arising from a restriction included within a commercial lease.[1]See, www.gov.uk/government/news/heathrow-and-arora-admit-to-anti-competitive-car-park-agreement Importantly, this case marks the first occasion that the CMA has used…
The question of what constitutes a restriction of competition ‘by object’ has forever been intensely discussed and heavily litigated across the EU. As AG Kokott stated in her opinion in T-Mobile, the existence of an ‘object’ box is justified by the benefit of legal certainty and, not least, the need for conserving resources of competition…
The UK’s expected separation from the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019 (Brexit Date) will re-cast the process by which parties pursuing global mergers secure their antitrust approvals. It will also reshape the potential exposure that parties face when subjected to global investigations of anticompetitive conduct. As Brexit rapidly approaches, businesses increasingly seek guidance…
The contemplated acquisition of Nova Broadcasting Group AD by PPF TMT Bidco 2 В.V (the latter entity and its economic group hereinafter referred to as “PPF”) along with a separate acquisition of the vertically integrated business of CEZ Group of companies (owned by CEZ a.s.) by the Bulgarian company Inercom EAD have been making the…
