The Court of Justice of the EU (the Court) has overturned the General Court’s judgment in Illumina/Grail, effectively putting an end to the EC’s revised Article 22 policy approach for below-threshold mergers. Under this...more
9/6/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
EU ,
EU Merger Directive ,
EUMR ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
The European Commission has published for public consultation its long-awaited draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses (draft Guidelines). The draft Guidelines aim at making it faster and easier for the Commission to pursue...more
The EC has published the long-awaited revised Market Definition Notice (the "Notice"), marking the first update since its initial adoption in 1997. The Notice clarifies the methodology for defining product and geographic...more
The European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has ruled that Hungary’s foreign investment screening law is incompatible with EU law, in particular the freedom of establishment enshrined in Article 54 TFEU. In striking down a...more
The long-awaited European Court of Justice's judgment in Towercast confirmed that national competition authorities (and national courts) can apply abuse of dominance rules to mergers that did not trigger EU and national...more
On 19 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice, answering questions from the Italian Council of State, confirmed that the Intel effects-based approach applies also to exclusive dealing practices and held that competition...more
On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law...more
On 9 December 2022, the European Commission published its draft DMA Implementing Regulation for consultation, together with the proposed Notification Form for "gatekeepers". The text deals with notifications, submissions and...more
Advocate General Juliane Kokott has proposed that the EU Court of Justice should find that competition authorities have the power to apply Article 102 TFEU to corporate transactions that are not reportable, and test under...more
The DMA has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force on 1 November 2022. The DMA aims to address concerns regarding "contestability" and "fairness" in the digital economy and...more
10/17/2022
/ Big Tech ,
Class Action ,
Competition ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Digital Platforms ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
The General Court of the European Union delivered a blow to the European Commission in fully annulling its Qualcomm (exclusivity payments) decision of 2018 and a EUR 997 million fine. Qualcomm v Commission1 is the first...more
6/17/2022
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Apple ,
Business Disputes ,
Business Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Due Process ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Foreclosure ,
Qualcomm ,
Right of Access ,
Third-Party
On 26 January 2022, the EU's General Court (GC) annulled the European Commission's (EC) €1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing a dominant position with its rebate schemes. The judgment demonstrates that the European Courts...more
1/28/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Burden of Proof ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
European Commission ,
Fines ,
General Court of the European Union (GCEU) ,
Intel ,
Rebates ,
Standard of Proof ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
There have been a number of developments in merger control in 2020 and Q1 2021. Some are related to the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, while others are borne out of the ambitions and changes sought by individual...more
On 25 March 2021, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") dismissed all the appeals against the European Commission's decision to fine Lundbeck and several other companies for entering into anti-competitive patent settlement...more
On 2 June 2020, the European Commission published its roadmap on the possible introduction of a ‘new competition tool’ that would allow it to initiate market investigations into perceived structural competition problems, with...more
White & Case LLP argued the last successful fully-fledged "failing firm defence" case in Aegean/Olympic II in 2013. Our lawyers Assimakis Komninos and Jan Jeram, who acted in that case, with the help of Iakovos Sarmas1,...more
4/17/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition Authorities ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
European Commission ,
Failing Firm Defense ,
Financial Distress ,
Global Economy ,
Industry Consolidation ,
Insolvency ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers
On 10 March 2020 the Court of Appeal upheld the Competition Appeal Tribunal's (CAT) quashing of the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) decision that Pfizer and Flynn Pharma (Flynn) had abused their dominant positions...more
4/1/2020
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Appeals ,
Drug Pricing ,
Evidence ,
Excessive Pricing ,
Pfizer ,
Reaffirmation ,
Standard of Review ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
Setting the scene -
The Italian Competition Authority ("ICA"), recently published a set of Guidelines and Policy recommendations relating to the Digital Sector ("Guidelines"), focusing on antitrust, privacy regulation and...more
7/11/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Administrative Authority ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Big Data ,
Competition Authorities ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Digital Communications ,
Digital Platform Liability ,
Digital Platforms ,
Digital Services ,
Italy ,
Joint Protocols ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Privacy Laws
Setting the scene
The long anticipated European Commission (DG COMP) report on "EU loan syndication and its impact on competition in credit markets" (see here) has finally been published. The study primarily focuses on the...more
4/15/2019
/ Anticompetitive Agreements ,
Banks ,
Borrowers ,
Competition ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Contract Terms ,
Duty of Care ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
France ,
Germany ,
Hedging ,
Impact Assessments ,
Information Reports ,
Infrastructure ,
Interest Rates ,
Lenders ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Loans ,
Netherlands ,
Poland ,
Risk Management ,
Spain ,
Syndicated Loans ,
UK
On 14 March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to close its investigation into a discount scheme by Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (MSD). The CMA concluded that there were no grounds for it to take...more
On 16 January 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU" or "Court") dismissed the European Commission's appeal against the annulment of its decision to prohibit the acquisition of TNT by UPS. The CJEU stressed...more
1/18/2019
/ Annulment ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Appeals ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Damages ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Mergers ,
Reversal ,
Right of Defence ,
TNT ,
Transparency ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UPS