A Reform to Strengthen Competition - After publication on 6 November 2023, the long awaited latest reform of German competition law has finally entered into force. Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic...more
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
Labor Market Meets Competition Law - In a labor market where companies are competing to attract and retain talent, the rising shortage of highly-skilled employees, high mobility, and high salary demands in certain market...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
European antitrust regulators have shown a continued focus on scrutinizing manufacturers’ engagement with their distributors. The anticompetitive practices that have attracted the highest financial penalties primarily relate...more
In October, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, "FCO”) published new guidelines on its leniency program and on the setting of fines in cartel proceedings. The guidelines substantiate the changes in the law...more
The announcement from twelve of Europe’s top football clubs of their plan to form a breakaway league (the so-called European 'Super League') sparked an impassioned response from many quarters. One of the threatened sanctions...more
On 27 January 2021, the French competition authority (Autorité de la concurrence or ADC) adopted a decision accepting commitments from the building block producer Lego France (Lego) to amend its discount policy. The ADC...more
INTRODUCTION - Behaviors such as excessive pricing and refusal to supply are often well understood to create potential issues if the company is dominant. However, under the national laws of some EU member states, such conduct...more
The events of 2020 have caused many brands to re-evaluate whether they are fully utilizing the internet as a tool to reach out to consumers with many enhancing and upgrading their own brand websites. Some brands are now also...more
Two recent developments in the European competition enforcement sphere provide a warning for brands when engaging with their retailers with whom they compete and when using price monitoring tools to monitor the third party...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
On 19 February, the European Commission (“the Commission”) unveiled a Communication setting out its strategy for “Shaping Europe's digital future” (“the Communication”)....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
The General Court of the European Union has provided some further guidance for luxury-brand companies on the different practices allowed on the secondary markets, such as repairs and supply of spare parts. First, the General...more
On 10 May 2017, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published its final report (“Final Report”) concluding its wide-ranging, two-year long inquiry into e-commerce (“Inquiry”). The Final Report offers key insights into...more
The German legislator just paved the way for the introduction of new merger control filing thresholds. Based on a recently adopted amending law to the German Act against Restraints of Competition, Germany’s merger control...more
On 16 March 2017, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager gave a speech on algorithms and competition at the Bundeskartellamt's 18th Conference on Competition in Berlin, during which she discussed the potentially...more
In September, the European Commission published its much-awaited Preliminary Report in the e-Commerce Sector Inquiry, launched last May 2015. Although the primary focus of the Commission’s Inquiry is on restrictions limiting...more
On 9 June 2016, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it had sent a statement of objections to Ping Europe Limited, a golf equipment manufacturer, alleging that Ping had breached EU and UK...more
On 22 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) handed down a seminal judgment holding for the first time that companies facilitating the implementation of a cartel can be sanctioned under EU competition law....more
In a landmark victory for the European Commission (Commission) before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 9 July 2015, the Court upheld the EUR 288 million fine imposed on a Taiwanese producer of liquid...more