To date, private equity (PE) deals have seldom attracted serious scrutiny by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and other antitrust regulators. However, this looks set to change; in particular with...more
An open letter was issued in January 2023 by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in which the two watchdogs have reminded airport operators of their responsibilities...more
The start of 2023 marked six months since the new vertical distribution laws came into effect across the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) – see our earlier summary of the important changes here)....more
As “Holiday Season” is increasingly synonymous with “Sales Season”, and with many sales already in full swing (Black Friday in particular), brands and traders should make sure that their discounting campaigns are compliant...more
The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has reissued its order for Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta) (owner of Facebook) to divest the GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) platform, Giphy Inc. (Giphy). The decision...more
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSI Act) came into force on 4 January 2022 and represented a brand new regime for the review of transactions with potential national security implications for the United Kingdom....more
In March 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fined the lighting products supplier, Dar Lighting Limited (Dar), £1.5 million for engaging in resale price maintenance (RPM), in breach of the UK prohibition...more
On 10 May 2022, the European Commission (the Commission) finally published the official final version of the European Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and guidelines (Vertical Guidelines). The new rules will come...more
Following the recent surge in consumer panic buying of fuel, the UK government announced on 27 September 2021 that it had suspended UK competition law to allow companies to share information so that fuel could continue to be...more
In November 2020 the UK Government announced a new, much broader regime for the regulation of foreign investment for the protection of national security in the United Kingdom (the UK) under the National Security and...more
The European Commission has now published its proposed draft of the new EU rules, which will govern distribution agreements until 2032. These are set to replace the current EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and...more
On 11 November 2020, the UK government announced the long-awaited and wide ranging reforms to the regulation and scrutiny of foreign direct investment. Introducing a mandatory notification system for affected transactions,...more
Two recent developments in the European competition enforcement sphere provide a warning for brands when engaging with their retailers with whom they compete and when using price monitoring tools to monitor the third party...more
Despite the unprecedented efforts and measures undertaken by governments across the world to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is an unfortunate but inevitable outcome that a number of businesses are...more
It is increasingly common for brands to track the prices of their products online using electronic price monitoring tools. While the practice itself is unlikely to attract antitrust risk, as we have previously reported, in...more
Our original political update was going to be more general in nature covering the turbulent state of British politics and the UK Prime Minister's "Do or Die" determination to leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal....more
On 18 November 2016 the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published its highly anticipated interim report into competition in the asset management industry. The report finds that price competition is weak in a number of...more
Recent statements by Theresa May and her staff uncover the first potential significant change to UK competition law as a result of Brexit. A Downing Street spokesperson has indicated that all “foreign takeovers” of UK...more
The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (the “Regulations”) come into force on 13 June 2014 and form the final stage of the UK’s implementation of the European Union...more
As part of its ongoing investigation into the UK audit services market, the Competition Commission ("CC") has provisionally decided on a package of remedies that will require FTSE 350 companies to put auditing contracts out...more