Competition/antitrust

Recent Articles

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  24.03.2023

  Belgium

  Mar­ket Court partly an­nuls Bel­gian Com­pet­i­tion Au­thor­ity de­cision on a hub and spoke in ci­gar­ettes case

  Following an enquiry initiated in 2017 and dawn raids carried out the same year, the Competition College of the Belgian Competition Authority concluded on 13 April 2022 its investigation into illegal exchanges of confidential commercially sensitive information via wholesalers and imposed a total of 36 million EUR of fines on four cigarette manufacturers :British American Tobacco Belgium : fine of 5.7 million EUR, Etablissements L. Lacroix Fils : fine of 7 million EUR, JT International Company Netherlands : fine of 7.2 million EUR and Philip Morris Benelux : fine of 16 million EUR.The BCA had investigated...

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  22.03.2023

  Belgium

  Bel­gian Com­pet­i­tion Au­thor­ity pub­lishes amicus curi­ae on ab­uses of dom­in­ance and of eco­nom­ic de­pend­ency in the tele­health sec­tor

  On 20 March 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) published the amicus curiae rendered in an injunction action brought before the Business Court of Brussels by Tunstall against Victrix in the telehealth sector. Based on BCA’s amicus curae and the facts at hand, in July 2022 the Business Court rejected the claim of abuse of dominance due to the absence of Tunstall’s dominant position, but ruled that Tunstall was abusing the position of economic dependence of Victrix and Télé-Secours.Tunstall supplies telecare software to call centres such as Télé-Secours,...

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  17.03.2023

  EU

  Mer­ger con­trol re­view be­low fil­ing thresholds – the ECJ Tower­cast judg­ment adds one more ar­row to the quiver

  On 16 March 2023, the ECJ decided that a M&A transaction, which was not subject to ex-ante EU merger control, can be reviewed – from an ex post perspective – as to whether the acquirer (through the acquisition) abused its dominant position within the meaning of Article 102 TFEU (prohibition of the abuse of a dominant position). This allows national competition authorities to apply Art. 102 TFEU to non-notifiable mergers. The judgment therefore provides competition authorities in the EU with a significant additional tool for their scrutiny of transactions, which are not reportable...

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  15.03.2023

  Romania

  Ro­mani­a's reg­u­la­tion on the pro­ced­ure for resolv­ing com­plaints over un­fair trad­ing prac­tices in the agri-food sup­ply chain enters in­to force

  On 14 March 2023, the Regulation on the procedure for the registration, investigation and resolution of complaints concerning unfair trading practices between undertakings in the agricultural and food supply chain finally entered into force in Romania. The Regulation implements the provisions of Law no. 81/2022 on unfair trading practices between undertakings in the agricultural and food supply chain, transposing the EU’s Unfair Trading Practices Directive. Law no. 81/2022 entered into force on 15 April 2022 and provided that a regulation on the procedure for dealing with complaints should...

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  14.03.2023

  China

  China has ac­ceded to the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Oc­to­ber 1961 Ab­ol­ish­ing the Re­quire­ment of Leg­al­isa­tion for For­eign Pub­lic Doc­u­ments

  On 8 March 2023, the People's Republic of China (the "PRC") has (finally!) acceded to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the "Convention").The Convention between the PRC, as the acceding state, and other member states (which will not have raised an objection; see below) will enter into force as of 7 November 2023.This constitutes a long-awaited and very positive development.Please click here to read the full article.

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  01.03.2023

  International

  New EU sanc­tions against Rus­sia

  On 25 February 2023, one year after Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, the EU adopted its tenth sanctions package against Russia. Together with the existing sanctions the European Commission considers the entirety of the measures imposed on Russia  (see also our Handling EU sanctions website) to be the toughest sanctions ever introduced by the EU.The tenth sanctions package has the following four main elements:widens export bans;widens import restrictions;lists additional individuals and entities; andtakes a tougher stance on circumvention.Export bansThe EU imposed new export bans....

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