66 results The impact of geopolitical developments on transactions: a tangled web of rules and hurdles Where is the line between openness and protectionism in the European single market? At both EU and national level, more and more protective barriers against foreign investors and acquirers have been created in the international competition. Belgian watchdog tackles bid rigging In recent cases in the fire protection and private security sectors, the Belgian Competition Authority has made the prosecution of bid-rigging one of its top priorities, imposing hefty fines on infringers for their participation in cartel schemes. First trip around the sun: FSR – one year in review The Foreign Subsidies Regulation has celebrated one year of its application. Time for companies to take stock of the lessons learnt from key developments of this first year. However, ambiguities remain and more is yet to come. Watch this space! Killing three birds with one stone: Illumina wins Article 22 battle The ECJ wrote the epilogue to the Illumina/Grail saga, overturning the EC’s novel ‘Article 22’ approach. It is now clear that the EC cannot accept referral requests to review transactions that fall below the thresholds of national merger control regimes. The ECJ’s ruling in Servier: Never Settle For Less Patent settlement agreements between originator pharmaceutical companies and generics manufacturers are a risky business. Originator medicine company Servier and five generic companies rolled the dice and the ECJ largely confirmed their antitrust fines. Game over for dark patterns? ACM fines Epic for unfairly targeting children The ACM has fined Epic Games for exploiting children’s psychological vulnerabilities, marking a key moment for Dutch consumer law enforcement. Our briefing examines the broader implications for consumer-facing businesses, especially those in online sales. Google Shopping: self-preferencing can be abusive The European Court of Justice has confirmed that Google abused its dominance by favouring its own shopping comparison service and demoting competing ones. However, not all favouritism is doomed. Meta fined for Facebook Marketplace’s Unfair Trading Conditions and Tying Unfair trading conditions and tying are gaining traction as alleged abusive practices in the digital industry, as the European Commission fines Meta EUR 797.72 million for hindering competitors of Facebook Marketplace. EU Compass: Boosting competitiveness as North Star Are ‘European champion’ companies walled off from unfair (foreign) competition the future? The European Commission recently presented its Competitiveness Compass to navigate the European Union to strengthened competitiveness. COVID-19: fast-forwarding competition law Competition authorities are temporarily ‘green-lighting’ certain collaboration initiatives to safeguard the supply of essential products in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Finding your way through the maze of Belgian aid measures available to businesses in times of COVID-19 In order to help companies in these dire times of COVID-19, Belgium’s federal and regional governments have provided an arsenal of aid measures. Sophie Van Besien, Michèle de Clerck and Peter Wytinck provide an overview. ACM played high stakes and lost: no more fixed network access regulation The ACM’s failure to meet the requisite standard of proof has led to the fixed networks of Dutch telecom providers KPN and VodafoneZiggo being free from access regulation. EU competition policy agenda: full to the brim The European Commission’s competition policy agenda stretches to 2024 and contains plans for many new or revised rules and guidelines. European Commission to pull the strings of foreign subsidies The European Commission is adding powers to its toolbox to ensure a level playing field between European and foreign(-backed) companies active on the EU market. Pay-for-delay: brightened lines between object and effect restrictions In its first pay-for-delay case, the ECJ has clarified the criteria determining whether settlement agreements between a patent holder of a pharmaceutical product and a generic manufacturer may have as their object or effect to restrict EU competition law. Competition rules and globalisation to face off in 2020 2020 will likely revolve around the question whether competition rules should yield to globalisation and digitisation, with suggestions ranging from mere tweaks to competition rules to complementary regulation. Commission reveals first piece of antitrust sustainability puzzle The European Commission has published a Policy Brief setting out its preliminary views on how to fit the European Green Deal’s sustainability goals into the EU competition rules. ACM study calls for regulation of Big Techs on payment market The ACM’s market study, published on 1 December 2020, provides an overview of recent and upcoming developments concerning the role of Big Tech companies in both online and offline payment markets in the Netherlands. Pagination Previous page Page 1 Current page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Next page
The impact of geopolitical developments on transactions: a tangled web of rules and hurdles Where is the line between openness and protectionism in the European single market? At both EU and national level, more and more protective barriers against foreign investors and acquirers have been created in the international competition.
Belgian watchdog tackles bid rigging In recent cases in the fire protection and private security sectors, the Belgian Competition Authority has made the prosecution of bid-rigging one of its top priorities, imposing hefty fines on infringers for their participation in cartel schemes.
First trip around the sun: FSR – one year in review The Foreign Subsidies Regulation has celebrated one year of its application. Time for companies to take stock of the lessons learnt from key developments of this first year. However, ambiguities remain and more is yet to come. Watch this space!
Killing three birds with one stone: Illumina wins Article 22 battle The ECJ wrote the epilogue to the Illumina/Grail saga, overturning the EC’s novel ‘Article 22’ approach. It is now clear that the EC cannot accept referral requests to review transactions that fall below the thresholds of national merger control regimes.
The ECJ’s ruling in Servier: Never Settle For Less Patent settlement agreements between originator pharmaceutical companies and generics manufacturers are a risky business. Originator medicine company Servier and five generic companies rolled the dice and the ECJ largely confirmed their antitrust fines.
Game over for dark patterns? ACM fines Epic for unfairly targeting children The ACM has fined Epic Games for exploiting children’s psychological vulnerabilities, marking a key moment for Dutch consumer law enforcement. Our briefing examines the broader implications for consumer-facing businesses, especially those in online sales.
Google Shopping: self-preferencing can be abusive The European Court of Justice has confirmed that Google abused its dominance by favouring its own shopping comparison service and demoting competing ones. However, not all favouritism is doomed.
Meta fined for Facebook Marketplace’s Unfair Trading Conditions and Tying Unfair trading conditions and tying are gaining traction as alleged abusive practices in the digital industry, as the European Commission fines Meta EUR 797.72 million for hindering competitors of Facebook Marketplace.
EU Compass: Boosting competitiveness as North Star Are ‘European champion’ companies walled off from unfair (foreign) competition the future? The European Commission recently presented its Competitiveness Compass to navigate the European Union to strengthened competitiveness.
COVID-19: fast-forwarding competition law Competition authorities are temporarily ‘green-lighting’ certain collaboration initiatives to safeguard the supply of essential products in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Finding your way through the maze of Belgian aid measures available to businesses in times of COVID-19 In order to help companies in these dire times of COVID-19, Belgium’s federal and regional governments have provided an arsenal of aid measures. Sophie Van Besien, Michèle de Clerck and Peter Wytinck provide an overview.
ACM played high stakes and lost: no more fixed network access regulation The ACM’s failure to meet the requisite standard of proof has led to the fixed networks of Dutch telecom providers KPN and VodafoneZiggo being free from access regulation.
EU competition policy agenda: full to the brim The European Commission’s competition policy agenda stretches to 2024 and contains plans for many new or revised rules and guidelines.
European Commission to pull the strings of foreign subsidies The European Commission is adding powers to its toolbox to ensure a level playing field between European and foreign(-backed) companies active on the EU market.
Pay-for-delay: brightened lines between object and effect restrictions In its first pay-for-delay case, the ECJ has clarified the criteria determining whether settlement agreements between a patent holder of a pharmaceutical product and a generic manufacturer may have as their object or effect to restrict EU competition law.
Competition rules and globalisation to face off in 2020 2020 will likely revolve around the question whether competition rules should yield to globalisation and digitisation, with suggestions ranging from mere tweaks to competition rules to complementary regulation.
Commission reveals first piece of antitrust sustainability puzzle The European Commission has published a Policy Brief setting out its preliminary views on how to fit the European Green Deal’s sustainability goals into the EU competition rules.
ACM study calls for regulation of Big Techs on payment market The ACM’s market study, published on 1 December 2020, provides an overview of recent and upcoming developments concerning the role of Big Tech companies in both online and offline payment markets in the Netherlands.