In Short -
The Development: The new Belgian foreign direct investment screening law ("FDI Regime") imposes preclosing filing requirements on non-EU investments into various industry sectors in Belgium, including energy,...more
In Short -
The Development: On 1 June 2023, the Security Screening of Investment, Mergers and Acquisitions Act (Wet Veiligheidstoets investeringen, fusies en overnames) ("the FDI Act") entered into force, introducing a...more
In Short -
The Situation: The European Union ("EU") has adopted a new regulation designed to tackle deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and globally by preventing European citizens from buying, using, and...more
In Short -
The Development: The European Commission ("EC") has published highly anticipated draft guidelines ("Draft Guidelines") detailing a new antitrust exemption for agreements in the agriculture and food supply chain...more
Since the United Kingdom implemented the National Security and Investment Act in January 2022 ("NSI Regime"), there has been a significant increase in state intervention in, and review of, business transactions in the United...more
On September 9, 2022, the French Ministry of Economy released its guidelines ("Guidelines") on the regulation of foreign direct investments ("FDI"). These Guidelines come a few months after the French Ministry of Economy made...more
In Short -
The Situation: The European Commission ("EC") is expected to release guidelines regarding a newly introduced exemption to the EU antitrust rules for certain agreements aimed at achieving the EU's sustainability...more
The EC recently found that Hungary's veto of Vienna Insurance Group's ("VIG") acquisition of the Hungarian subsidiaries of the AEGON Group, an insurance, pension fund, and asset management company, breached EU merger control...more
The EU General Court ("GC") annulled the European Commission's €1.06 billion antitrust fine imposed on Intel in 2009 for allegedly abusing its dominant position in x86 Central Processing Units ("CPUs") by offering loyalty...more
1/27/2022
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Intel ,
Technology Sector
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently issued a decision in In re Vitamin C Antitrust Litigation, reversing a $148 million price-fixing judgment against two Chinese exporters of vitamin C, remanding the...more
8/25/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Application of Foreign Laws ,
China ,
Comity ,
Conflicts of Laws ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Foreign State Compulsion Doctrine ,
Multinationals ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sherman Act
The Background: The European Commission ("Commission") recently unveiled long-awaited draft revisions to its Vertical Block Exemption Regulation ("VBER") and Vertical Guidelines. The VBER includes safe harbors that exempt...more
8/12/2021
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
International Trade ,
Most-Favored Nations ,
Safe Harbors ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Supply Chain ,
V-BER (Vertical Block Exemption Regulation)
New law regulates commercial dealings between suppliers and comparatively larger buyers of food and agricultural products.
Germany passed a new law, Agrarorganisationen-und-Lieferketten-Gesetz ("AgrarOLkG"), the...more
The 17th amendment to the German Foreign Trade and Payment Ordinance ("AWV") adopted by the federal government on April 27, 2021, included—compared to the original draft—a number of changes relevant to M&A transactions with a...more
German financial institutions may need to consider a risk framework for monitoring their customers' compliance with social and environmental standards.
The German Federal Government recently proposed a draft act on...more
The changes will expand the notification requirements for tech-related transactions significantly.
The German federal government published a draft 17th amendment to the Foreign Trade and Payment Ordinance ("AWV"), which is...more
The Development: The Bundestag, the German legislature, amended Germany's antitrust laws to include special competition rules for digital platform "companies with overwhelming importance for competition across multiple...more
Jones Day partners Jürgen Beninca and Dieter Strubenhoff discuss how private litigation relating to antitrust and competition enforcement in Germany has changed in recent years, what factors claimants should consider when...more
Private enforcement actions relating to antitrust matters has increased dramatically across Europe in recent years, both as follow-on damages claims in reaction to governmental enforcement actions, or as standalone...more
The lowered threshold for foreign direct investments into France will apply to non-EU and non-EEA investors or to any investor fiscally domiciled outside the European Union and European Economic Area.
On July 23, 2020,...more
7/27/2020
/ EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
France ,
French Commercial Code ,
Investors ,
National Security ,
New Regulations ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Voting Rights
One effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to accelerate the implementation of new or stricter controls on inward-bound foreign direct investment activity ("FDI"), particularly in the European Union. For example, in March...more
Proposed retroactive application could expose investments made as from June 2, 2020, to ex post scrutiny.
On June 2, 2020, the Dutch Government ("Government") announced that it plans to apply a proposed comprehensive...more
The Situation: The UK Government has expanded the scope of the UK's foreign direct investment ("FDI") screening controls to include businesses responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the UK has lowered the...more
On May 20, 2020, the German Federal government adopted the 15th amendment to the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance (AWV). The changes to the AWV will be effective shortly, after publication in the Federal Gazette....more
The European Commission recently issued COVID-19-related guidance, ahead of the entry into force of the new EU FDI screening mechanism in October 2020. Several member states have been tightening their national FDI regimes as...more
The new guidance encourages EU Member States to make full use of existing, and adopt new, investment screening mechanisms. Investments in the health care sector and related industries are likely to face increased scrutiny and...more