On 4 July 2025, the EC fined Alchem and its subsidiary EUR 489,000 for their role in a long-running cartel concerning the active pharmaceutical ingredient SNBB, used in the production of Buscopan and its generics. This marks...more
7/23/2025
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Cartels ,
Competition ,
Drug Pricing ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Healthcare ,
Life Sciences ,
Penalties ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs
On May 22, 2025, the Hellenic Parliament passed long-expected legislation to establish Greece’s first national mechanism for the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI) on grounds of national security and public order....more
6/4/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Cybersecurity ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Greece ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements
A key objective outlined in Commissioner Ribera’s mission letter is the modernization of EU competition policy, including the framework employed by the European Commission (EC) to assess the competitive impact of mergers. In...more
2024 saw a significant increase in overall global fines for antitrust enforcement, with total penalties for the jurisdictions surveyed in our report at USD6.7 billion, over double that of 2023 (USD2.9bn) and substantially...more
3/19/2025
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Asia Pacific ,
Big Tech ,
Cartels ,
Competition ,
Damages ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Fines ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
South Africa ,
Sustainability ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
United States
The transaction notification regime under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is now over a year old. To date, intervention levels are low. But assessing whether a filing is required, and gathering the extensive...more
Regulatory intervention levels are rising. The concerns of antitrust authorities and foreign investment (FDI) regulators are evolving and can be unpredictable. Allocation of merger control execution risk in deal documents...more
3/5/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sellers
Speeding up review periods remained a priority for antitrust authorities outside the U.S. They did this through formal rule changes or adjustments in practice. But the increasing complexity of the issues raised by some deals,...more
Tech sector deals are seeing rising mortality rates. AI partnerships are moving up the authorities’ agenda for scrutiny and enforcement. Overall, however, antitrust intervention in 2024 once again focused on transport, energy...more
2/28/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
Antitrust authorities continue to make use of powers to scrutinize deals falling below merger control filing thresholds. Many that don’t have that ability, want it. The European Commission (EC) remains the frontrunner in...more
Merger control and foreign investment hurdles contributed to a challenging 2024 for M&A. 2025 looks more promising, with pro-business agendas and regulatory easing in key jurisdictions expected to fuel a surge in dealmaking...more
In May 2009, the European Commission (EC) fined Intel EUR1.06 billion for abusing its dominant position in the x86 microprocessor market (CPUs). The EC concluded that Intel had granted anticompetitive loyalty rebates to...more
The Draft Guidelines set out the European Commission (EC)’s approach on exclusionary abuse by dominant undertakings. The EC is proposing a shift away from the effects-based approach set out in its earlier enforcement...more
The European Commission (EC ) has approved the first Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) in the health sector— IPCEI Med4Cure.
Under the IPCEI, six EU member states will provide up to EUR1bn of state aid...more
The European Commission (EC) has fined five pharmaceutical companies a total of EUR13.4 million for participating in a cartel concerning N-Butylbromide Scopolamine/Hyoscine (SNBB) – an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)...more
10/23/2023
/ Cartels ,
Cephalon ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Generic Drugs ,
Life Sciences ,
Patents ,
Pay-For-Delay ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Most of the provisions of the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) take effect on 12 July 2023. The European Commission (EC) has also now adopted its long-awaited Implementing Regulation (IR), which contains the notification...more
This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Francesca Miotto, partner based in Brussels, is our editor this month (learn more about Francesca in our Q&A feature...more
7/3/2023
/ Cooperation Agreement ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
UK
On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted revised Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations on research & development agreements (R&D BER) and specialisation agreements (Specialisation BER) (jointly referred to as...more
6/14/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Competition ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
Data-Sharing ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Exemptions ,
Horizontal Agreements ,
National Security Agency (NSA) ,
Popular ,
Sustainability ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
The European Commission (EC) has been considering procedural amendments to the EU merger control rules since August 2016. It wants to simplify the review process for deals that are unlikely to raise antitrust concerns and to...more
On 10 May 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER), together with the accompanying revised Guidelines on Vertical Restraints (Vertical Guidelines), which will replace...more
On 23 February 2022, Margrethe Vestager (European Commission’s Executive Vice President for a Europe fit for the Digital Age) unveiled proposals for the EU’s latest legislative development, the EU Data Act. Originally...more
On 1 March 2022, the European Commission published for consultation draft revised Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations on research & development and specialisation agreements as well as draft revised Guidelines on...more