Key Points -
- Although Brussels has no power to approve or block FDI, the European Commission is urging a tightening of policy across the block.
- The Commission is signaling that it is responsive to calls for a more...more
The first wave of discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on EU merger control was very much on the practical and procedural. What, impact if any, will the response to this crisis have on the substantive assessment of mergers...more
How will European Competition Enforcers Respond?
The COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to the economy and competition enforcement is no exception. Authorities at EU and national level may need to...more
3/21/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition Authorities ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
State Aid ,
State of Emergency ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
Member States of the EU and the U.K. are announcing massive support packages for companies affected by the coronavirus crisis. These interventions are on a vast scale. Unlike the 2008 financial crisis, the measures we are...more
Yesterday, the EU and U.K. in principle agreed new terms for the withdrawal agreement giving effect to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. These include a revised political declaration and protocol concerning Northern...more
10/18/2019
/ Bilateral Agreements ,
EU ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Exports ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
New Regulations ,
Northern Ireland ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Value-Added Tax (VAT) ,
Withdrawal Agreement
Welcome to the 2019 Shearman & Sterling Antitrust Annual Report.
Our seventh edition focuses on the contrasting use by regulators of antitrust laws with respect to the FANGs, and how antitrust is being enforced in the U.S....more
7/24/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Liability ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Media ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Leniency Programs ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Recruitment Policies ,
State Aid ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit
On 27 June 2019 the European Commission imposed a fine of €28 million on the Japanese imaging and optical products manufacturer Canon for “gun-jumping” by using a warehousing structure in its 2016 acquisition of Toshiba...more
7/9/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Breach of Competition Law ,
Canon ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Toshiba ,
Warehouses
On Thursday, 7th February, the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved the No Producing and Exporting Cartels Act 2019 (NOPEC), potentially setting up a vote by the full House. NOPEC was followed by...more
2/12/2019
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Cartels ,
Congressional Committees ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Exports ,
Member State ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
US Department of State
The long-awaited judgment of the General Court (GC) in the pay-TV saga (case AT.40023 Cross-border access to pay-TV) has finally been delivered, two years after the annulment action was brought. It was worth waiting for: The...more
12/12/2018
/ Antitrust Investigations ,
Cable Television Providers ,
Contract Terms ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
License Agreements ,
Paramount Pictures ,
Sony ,
Television Broadcast Stations ,
Warner Brothers Entertainment
Advocate General Wathelet has issued his opinion in the Eesti Pagar preliminary ruling, which if followed could have significant implications for Member States, national authorities and beneficiaries of State aid. Wathelet’s...more
On June 12, 2018, following a six-week-long bench trial, Judge Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that AT&T’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner does not violate the...more
The “standstill obligation” under Article 7 of the Regulation 139/2004 on Merger Control (EUMR) prevents parties from implementing their transaction before receiving merger clearance from the European Commission (EC). Failure...more
The European Commission (EC) and other national competition authorities (NCAs) have traditionally shied away from investigating allegations of excessive pricing and appearing as price regulators. Commissioner Vestager warned...more
4/26/2018
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Actavis Inc. ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
Excessive Pricing ,
Hoffman LaRoche ,
Merck ,
Pay-For-Delay ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Pricing ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UK ,
UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
In perhaps the most hotly anticipated judgment in the European competition law world this year, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down its landmark ruling on September 6, 2017 in Intel’s appeal against...more
4/26/2018
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Appeals ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Intel ,
Rebates ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Rules of Civil Procedure
Large online platforms such as Amazon, Facebook and Google have a strong presence in Europe. Although general competition law principles apply to them, cases concerning online platforms give rise to a lot of novel questions...more
4/24/2018
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
AirBnB ,
Amazon ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition Authorities ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Google ,
Online Platforms ,
Social Networks ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
On December 9, 2016, the PRC National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) handed down its decision against medical device company Medtronic for having concluded and implemented a vertical monopoly agreement by...more
The growth of e-commerce and the resulting increase in price transparency and price competition have a significant impact on companies’ distribution strategies and consumer behavior. While the emergence of e-commerce has the...more
4/20/2018
/ Amazon ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Coty ,
E-Commerce ,
EU ,
Internet Retailers ,
Manufacturers ,
Product Pricing ,
Retailers ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Supply Chain ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
It has been a year since Article 50 was triggered on March 29, 2017, and if no extension is given, the U.K. will leave the European Union (EU) on March 29, 2019. This means that negotiations are now at the half-way point, but...more
4/18/2018
/ Article 50 Treaty of the EU ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
EFTA ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Member State ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
State Aid ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
WTO
Divining trends in antitrust enforcement in a given presidential administration can take some time. Many commentators didn’t notice material changes in antitrust enforcement in the Obama administration – at least in merger...more
Algorithms and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become commonplace in a vast number of markets, and this has drawn the attention not only of competition law academics and practitioners, but also of competition...more
While structural remedies remain the primary remedy of choice, and virtually the only option in the case of horizontal mergers, under the Obama Administration and with respect to vertical mergers, the agencies increasingly...more
The EU and U.S. competition authorities have been and remain active in enforcing gun-jumping cases, while in recent years other competition authorities across the world, including in China, have also become increasingly...more
4/12/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
China ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Japan ,
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ,
Mergers ,
MOFCOM
In China, where foreign investments used to be subject to a case-by-case evaluation, the screening process for acquisitions of local businesses by foreign investors is being simplified and becoming more industry-focused. This...more
4/12/2018
/ CFIUS ,
China ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Germany ,
Italy ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
MOFCOM ,
National Security Review Proceedings ,
UK
Is this perception well-founded? And does it represent a new policy trend towards ‘social justice’ objectives or simply a continuation of a policy driver that has underpinned EU competition enforcement for some time?...more
4/11/2018
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Cartels ,
Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
International Tax Issues ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
Multinationals ,
R&D ,
State Aid ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The European Commission has routinely considered potential harm to innovation as part of its merger assessments, particularly in R&D driven sectors such as pharmaceuticals and technology. In recent years, however, the...more
3/22/2018
/ Bayer ,
Dow Chemical ,
DuPont ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Innovation ,
Mergers ,
Monsanto ,
Popular ,
Research and Development