Canada’s Competition Act was amended effective December 15, 2023 to both (i) establish a new, more expansive framework for challenging anti-competitive conduct by dominant firms and (ii) specifically provide that it is an...more
With royal assent to Bill C-56, The Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, occurring on December 15, 2023, important changes to Canada’s competition law framework came into force. The amendments that came into effect...more
The government announced significant additional amendments to Canada’s Competition Act in late November 2023, building on those already under consideration by Parliament in Bill C-56 and others enacted in 2022. More...more
In Short - The Development: The Court of Justice of the European Union ("ECJ") held that national competition authorities ("NCA") may investigate and block an M&A transaction that violates Article 102 of the Treaty on the...more
Significant amendments to Canada’s Competition Act (Act) dominated discussion about Canadian competition law policy and enforcement in 2022. Given the full implementation of the first round of amendments and the formal...more
On 10 October 2022, the European Commission (EC) sent a Statement of Objections to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited and Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe BV (Teva). The EC has provisionally found that Teva abused its dominant...more
The ruling is also a reminder of the circumstances in which the court may order indemnity costs for such failures. On 29 July 2022, the UK High Court ruled in Cabo Concepts Limited v. MGA Entertainment (UK) Limited that...more
Key Takeaways - The Court holds the Commission to a high standard in respect to the rights of defense. The Court found that the Commission committed several serious procedural violations, including: (i) failure to keep and...more
The Government of Canada has now passed significant amendments to the Competition Act via its Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 (the “BIA”), which received Royal Assent on June 23, 2022. The inclusion of these changes in...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
On November 10, 2021, the European Union’s General Court issued a decision largely upholding the European Commission’s finding that Google abused its dominant position by favoring results from its own comparison-shopping...more
The European Commission (EC) issued a EUR 875 million (USD 1.05 billion) cartel fine against German carmakers, namely BMW, Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen (the latter three are all part of the Volkswagen Group). Daimler was...more
The Competition Bureau announced that the 2021 size of transaction pre-merger notification threshold under the Competition Act will decrease to C$93 million from the current threshold of C$96 million. Acquisitions may be...more
The Development: China's State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") fined three suppliers of active pharmaceutical ingredients ("API") for injectable calcium gluconate a total of RMB 325.5 million (approximately...more
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published “Guidance on the Functions of the CMA Under the Withdrawal Agreement” (Guidance), which sets out the regulator’s approach to merger and competition cases during...more
The Competition Tribunal has released extensive reasons for dismissing the abuse of dominance claim brought by Canada's Commissioner of Competition against the Vancouver Airport Authority. For future investigations and...more
The European Commission (EC) has found, on a prima facie basis, that Broadcom abused its dominant position. In order to avert the risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition, Broadcom has been ordered to cease its...more
China's State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") recently released three new antitrust regulations that consolidate the antimonopoly regulations of its predecessor antimonopoly enforcement agencies, but also...more
For a second time in 18 months the EU Commission has slapped a large antitrust fine on Qualcomm, the world’s largest chip manufacturer. On 18 July 2019, the European Commission announced that it has imposed a fine of EUR 242...more
In a potentially ground-breaking move, the European Commission recently announced its intention to use its powers to impose interim measures in an investigation targeting chipmaker Broadcom. If it does impose such measures,...more
The Situation: The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") has provided guidance in assessing the validity of discriminatory pricing practices under EU competition law. The Result: The CJEU followed its recent...more
The Background: In September 2017, the European Court of Justice (Case C-413/14 P) reversed the ruling of the General Court, which had upheld the European Commission's €1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing its dominant...more
According to the longstanding case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “Court”), rebates which are conditional upon a purchaser buying all or most of its requirements from a dominant supplier (so called...more
The European Commission has introduced a new tool to encourage individuals to disclose anticompetitive conduct on an anonymous basis. Individuals are invited to supply inside knowledge to help the Commission uncover cartels...more
BREXIT – BUSINESS AS USUAL...AT LEAST FOR NOW - What do you need to know? Despite the UK's vote to leave the European Union ("EU"), companies doing business in the UK can still continue to trade with the EU in...more