To date, 2024 has not yet seen the type of mega-merger (Pfizer/Seagen) or level of agency enforcement (Sanofi/Maze or Amgen/Horizon) as 2023. But two notable investigations — one still active — show the Federal Trade...more
On 3 September 2024, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the European Commission (Commission) cannot encourage or accept referrals for below-threshold deals from national competition authorities if those...more
On 16 March 2023, the ECJ published its judgment in Towercast (C-449/21), confirming that Article 102 TFEU (which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position) may apply to transactions which fall below national and EU...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
The long-awaited European Court of Justice's judgment in Towercast confirmed that national competition authorities (and national courts) can apply abuse of dominance rules to mergers that did not trigger EU and national...more
As we enter 2023, the European Commission is redoubling its efforts to scrutinise transactions on a variety of bases. The focus has been on the digital sector for some time, but the impact of the Commission’s expanding...more
Europe’s first legislative proposal addressing the digital economy and related competition issues is one step closer to becoming a reality: In September 2020, the German government approved the highly anticipated 10th...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
McDermott’s Annual European Competition Review summarizes key developments in European competition rules. During the previous year, several new regulations, notices and guidelines were issued by the European Commission. There...more
On April 4, 2019, the European Commission published a report1 prepared by three special advisers (the Advisers) appointed by EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to explore how EU competition policy should evolve in...more
The UK may leave the EU on 29 March 2019 without a transition period or agreed arrangements on the terms of its exit. There are multiple implications: - Businesses subject to an ongoing EU antitrust investigation on the...more
On 8 November 2016, the “Autorité de la concurrence” (French competition authority) provided a stark warning about the dangers of early implementation of a transaction prior to merger control clearance. This is one type of...more
Only a few weeks ago, EU Competition Commissioner Vestager said in a speech, “We continue to look carefully at this issue, but we haven’t found a competition [antitrust] problem yet”. She was referring to antitrust issues...more
McDermott has published an EU Competition Annual Review for 2015. This 87 page booklet will help General Counsel and their teams focus on the most essential EU competition updates for 2015. Beyond being used to understand...more