In late June 2023, Europe’s highest court confirmed in a hotly anticipated judgment involving leading Portuguese beer and beverage producer Super Bock Bebidas that resale price maintenance (RPM)—namely the vertical fixing of...more
With summer kicking in, it may be tempting to enjoy a Portuguese beer and relax far from competition law. Instead, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) choses to recall the basics of resale price maintenance (“RPM”) and...more
This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Vivian Cao, partner at Allen & Overy Lang Yue, is our editor this month....more
Join the Hogan Lovells Antitrust and Competition team on Thursday, September 29, 2022 for a discussion on the key recent changes to the vertical agreement block exemptions in both the EU and UK: - Highlighting the key...more
On 10 May 2022, the European Commission (the Commission) finally published the official final version of the European Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and guidelines (Vertical Guidelines). The new rules will come...more
The European Commission has now published its proposed draft of the new EU rules, which will govern distribution agreements until 2032. These are set to replace the current EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and...more
The European Commission (Commission) has launched the impact assessment phase concerning its ongoing revision of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the accompanying Vertical Guidelines, which set out the rules...more
The Development - ..The European Commission (EC) has published a 232-page Staff Working Document that summarises the findings of its evaluation of the EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and accompanying...more
EU, UK Competition, State Aid and Public Procurement Law During COVID-19 - While not the most important concern, it should be appreciated that antitrust/competition law, plus the state aid and public procurement rules,...more
It is increasingly common for brands to track the prices of their products online using electronic price monitoring tools. While the practice itself is unlikely to attract antitrust risk, as we have previously reported, in...more
Recent years have seen a surge in enforcement activity with national and supra-national antitrust regulators investigating and fining suppliers and manufacturers for the practice of imposing fixed or minimum resale prices and...more
EU COMPETITION LAW AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data are playing an increasingly important role in the economy. Competition law will have to evolve if it is to reconcile the positive...more
Textbook Long-Term Cartel Fined in the EU - On 27 September 2019, the European Commission announced it had fined two canned vegetable suppliers for participating in a cartel that ran for more than 13 years. Another...more
Stakeholder submissions to the European Commission (Commission) on the EU competition rules governing distribution practices reveal widespread concern that the current framework is inadequate to meet the growing e-commerce...more
A Classic Online RPM Case in the UK - On 1 August 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it had fined digital piano and keyboard supplier Casio £3.7 million for engaging in illegal resale price...more
This newsletter is our take on the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Börries Ahrens, partner based in Hamburg, is our editor this month....more
Resale Price Maintenance Rules Apply to Members of Purchasing Cooperative - On 29 January 2019, the German competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, imposed a fine of €13.4 million on ZEG, a purchasing cooperative. The...more
The European Commission (the “Commission”) issued four separate decisions on 24 July 2018, fining consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer a total of €111 million for imposing fixed or...more