An EU Advocate General has advised that an appeal brought by Altice should be dismissed in its entirety – in effect confirming the validity of a 2018 European Commission decision imposing a record fine on Altice for breaching...more
A speech delivered this week by the Chief Executive of the CMA provides insights into the competition watchdog's approach to merger control – reflecting on some of the most pressing and debated issues regarding merger control...more
The CMA has concluded that a merger between the two largest suppliers of ready to bake products to UK grocery retailers should be unwound, highlighting the risks of choosing to complete mergers without first receiving CMA...more
The UK’s Digital Markets Unit is now expected to be put on a statutory footing and granted new wide-ranging powers to regulate anti-competitive behaviour by May 2023, with its powers coming into force by October 2023....more
The European Commission has adopted guidelines addressing the application of EU competition law to the "solo self-employed". The guidelines clarify situations in which certain self-employed individuals may work collectively...more
The UK’s new Vertical Agreement Block Exemption Order (VABEO), the long awaited replacement to the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER – which was retained in the UK under domestic law post-Brexit) is now live in the UK...more
The UK Government recently announced a series of reforms for strengthening the UK competition regime, including measures that will increase penalties for non-compliance, speed up antitrust investigations and permit better...more
The European Commission has published draft Guidelines on the application of competition law to collective bargaining involving the working conditions of the “solo self-employed”. The draft Guidelines clarify the Commission’s...more
The EU General Court has issued the latest judgment in a suite of hard-line anti-gun-jumping cases – effectively confirming the European Commission’s 2018 decision imposing a record fine on Altice for breaching EU merger...more
The CMA has imposed a record fine on an Irish trading software supplier for alleged breaches of a ‘hold separate order’ in relation to the completed purchase of a US rival. This is the latest instance in a string of fines...more
In what could herald the most significant changes to the UK competition regime in 25 years, the UK Government has announced a series of proposed reforms to UK competition law enforcement. The stated aims of the reforms are...more
The UK Government is consulting on proposed powers for the recently launched Digital Markets Unit. This is a significant juncture in the reconfiguration of the post-Brexit regulatory landscape, marked by a determination to...more
The UK Government has launched the much anticipated Digital Markets Unit (DMU) as a first step towards an “unashamedly pro-competition" regime focused on the position of “tech giants”. ...more
On 6 January 2021, the European Commission published an "Inception Impact Assessment" seeking feedback on an initiative aimed at defining EU competition law's scope of application to "self-employed" workers (in advance of an...more
The United Kingdom and the European Union are set to take bold strides towards the regulation of digital markets in coming months. While both are broadly aligned in their intention to better regulate large tech companies, the...more
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, many companies will be facing significant financial difficulties for which the only viable solution to remain a going concern will be acquisition by another company. It is safe to predict...more
Competition/antitrust laws generally require rival firms to operate on the market independently of each other and tolerate cooperation between competitors only in limited circumstances where any resulting loss of competition...more
The UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") recently issued its Annual Plan for 2020/2021, which aims to give clarity to the CMA's objectives for the next year....more
The UK's departure from the EU on 31 January has initiated an 11 month transition period, during which the application of EU competition law in the UK will remain largely unchanged. Thus the EU rules governing mergers will...more
3/16/2020
/ Competition ,
Covered Transactions ,
EFTA ,
EU ,
EUMR ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Member State ,
Merger Controls ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
Withdrawal Agreement
Read the latest news on antitrust, competition and economic regulation (ACER) in this Summer's edition of our quarterly ACER newsletter.
...more
10/1/2019
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
China ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Indonesia ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Resale Pricing ,
State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) ,
Vietnam
On 27 June 2019, the European Commission (Commission) announced it had fined Japanese camera and printer manufacturer, Canon, €28m for partially implementing its 2016 acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems prior to the...more
On 10 June 2019, the outgoing UK Prime Minister confirmed that the UK government will move forward with a proposal for a new 'Digital Markets Unit'. In her speech at the launch of London Tech Week, Theresa May noted that the...more
On 4 April 2019, the European Commission published the much anticipated Report Competition Policy for the digital era (hereinafter referred to as the "Report").
...more
On 30 October 2018, the UK government published a draft version of a statutory instrument (Competition SI) and guidance issued by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which, taken together, clarify how a 'standalone'...more