The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will introduce groundbreaking new rules to regulate digital markets in the U.K. It aims to boost competition by controlling the conduct of the largest digital firms,...more
6/3/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
Merger Controls ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will result in a landmark overhaul of the U.K. consumer protection regime. It will dramatically increase the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA's) enforcement powers...more
6/3/2024
/ Competition ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will in the main start to take effect in stages later in 2024 and will bolster the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to enforce U.K. antitrust rules....more
6/3/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
Investigations ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Remedies ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has finally been enacted. It introduces significant changes to U.K. merger control and antitrust rules, establishes a new consumer protection regime and introduces a...more
6/3/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Competition Act ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
Investigations ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Rules ,
Online Platforms ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) took effect in July 2023. It aims to regulate subsidies granted by non-EU countries to ensure that they do not distort competition in the EU internal market. For dealmakers, it is...more
2/29/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
EU ,
Filing Requirements ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
International Trade ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements
Antitrust authorities continue to use powers to review deals that fall below merger control filing thresholds. For merging parties this means uncertainty. It is crucial that the possibility of review – including a...more
2/28/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Competition Authorities ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Investment ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Threshold Requirements
Traditionally, private equity firms were seen as benign investors from an antitrust perspective. This is changing. In the past 12 months, PE-funded acquisitions have faced progressively more rigorous scrutiny by antitrust...more
2/28/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Merger Controls ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Global deal value and volume fell again in 2023, down 33% and 18% respectively compared to 2022. This is unsurprising, given persistently tough macroeconomic conditions and geopolitical tensions. Dealmakers are also facing an...more
2/28/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Australia ,
Competition Authorities ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Merger Controls ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its final Green Agreements Guidance on how UK antitrust rules apply to green cooperation agreements between competitors (UK Green Guidance).
The UK Green Guidance...more
10/19/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Climate Change ,
Competition ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Sustainability ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The European Commission (EC) and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have published new guidance on the assessment of cooperation between competitors. For the EU, this is contained in revised Guidelines on...more
9/13/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
EU ,
Horizontal Agreements ,
Information Sharing ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The European Commission (EC) has imposed a fine of around EUR432 million on genomics company Illumina for closing its acquisition of blood-based cancer test developer GRAIL before the conclusion of the EC’s merger control...more
7/19/2023
/ Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
EUMR ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Life Sciences ,
Merger Controls ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
UK
On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted revised Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations on research & development agreements (R&D BER) and specialisation agreements (Specialisation BER) (jointly referred to as...more
6/14/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Competition ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
Data-Sharing ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Exemptions ,
Horizontal Agreements ,
National Security Agency (NSA) ,
Popular ,
Sustainability ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
We have collected and analysed data on merger control activity for 2022 from 26 jurisdictions. We give you the key trends and developments from the past year, focusing in particular on the EU, UK, U.S. and China.
...more
In a landmark ruling, the EU General Court (GC) has confirmed the European Commission (EC)’s decision to accept a referral request from France (and other Member States) for the assessment of gene-sequencing firm Illumina’s...more
In a landmark ruling, the EU General Court (GC) has confirmed the European Commission (EC)’s decision to accept a referral request from several Member States for the assessment of gene-sequencing firm Illumina’s acquisition...more
On 10 May 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER), together with the accompanying revised Guidelines on Vertical Restraints (Vertical Guidelines), which will replace...more
The General Court has largely upheld the European Commission’s decision to fine Altice a record amount for breaching procedural merger control rules in relation to its acquisition of PT Portugal. The ruling will likely...more
The end of the Brexit transition period at 11pm on 31 December 2020 gives rise to significant changes to the application of antitrust and merger control rules in the UK.
...more
The European Commission (EC) has published its draft Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will introduce broad reforms to the application of EU competition law to ‘gatekeepers’ in the digital sector. The proposals set out...more
Under State aid rules, UK and EEA Member State governments may not generally provide selective assistance to businesses without prior approval from the European Commission (EC). This includes assistance in the form of...more
Under State aid rules, UK and EEA Member State governments may not generally provide selective assistance to businesses without prior approval from the European Commission (EC). This includes assistance in the form of...more
Under State aid rules, UK and EEA Member State governments may not generally provide selective assistance to businesses without prior approval from the European Commission (EC). This includes assistance in the form of...more
11/13/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Airlines ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Relief Measures ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) ,
State Aid
On 6 March 2020, the European Commission (Commission) cleared the acquisition of joint control over Infrastructure Wireless Italiane (INWIT) by the two largest Italian telcos, Telecom Italia (TIM) and Vodafone, which will...more
The UK has well-established domestic antitrust and merger control regimes, enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
As an EU Member State, however, where a deal met EU merger control thresholds the CMA – in...more
The European Commission (Commission) has the power to order companies suspected of engaging in anti-competitive behaviour to stop their conduct pending a final decision in an investigation – so-called “interim measures”....more