Novel or unresolved – The Commission’s draft informal guidance notice

A bit overshadowed by other big legislative processes (we know what we are talking about), the Commission has also been actively updating its notices currently not so much in the focus of the public eye. Having made some progress on the simplified procedure in merger control cases already, the Commission recently presented an updated draft … Continue reading Novel or unresolved – The Commission’s draft informal guidance notice →

The X-Files: No science fiction at all

Some of our older readers might recall the TV show “The X-Files”, in which the two FBI agents Scully and Mulder deal with unsolved cases called the X-Files. These cases always had a kind of mystical touch. Not mystical at all is the GAIA-X initiative, in which governments and companies work to design the next … Continue reading The X-Files: No science fiction at all →

An overview of parity obligations

For years, parity obligations, also called “most favoured nation clauses” or “MFNs”, were hotly debated. There was a policy element to how different regulators treated MFNs, and not least because the European Commission decided to leave enforcement to national regulators, rules across the EU differed (in particular regarding online platforms). The new Vertical Block Exemption … Continue reading An overview of parity obligations →

The Vertical Block Exemption – how we got where we are

On 10 May 2022, the European Commission published its new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER), which will enter into force in June. Many have published very good summaries on the rules. Some also welcomed the very late changes that were made with regard to information exchange in the context of dual distribution. In this post, … Continue reading The Vertical Block Exemption – how we got where we are →

A history of challenging big tech – Part II: CPUs & Rebates

A month ago, we started our new series about the history of challenging big tech with a post on Microsoft’s interoperability and Media Player case. Since we cover the cases in this series by their start date rather than their end date, today we report on a case that has not ended yet but began … Continue reading A history of challenging big tech – Part II: CPUs & Rebates →

EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation: State of Play

The process for introducing new EU rules on companies that receive foreign subsidies has really sped up. EU lawmakers are now in so-called “trilogue” discussions meant to finalise the “Foreign Subsidies Regulation” still this year. The regulation will affect companies in M&A transactions and in public procurement bids, and will basically introduce yet another review … Continue reading EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation: State of Play →

Tech, sports and…Greece – A week full of news

Big tech, sports, labour markets and authorities' rediscovered delight in unannounced inspections – the week has been full of news regarding antitrust’s most trending topics. As we blogged about most of them before (or wrote about them somewhere else), we could not decide which of them drew most of our attention. So, we opted to … Continue reading Tech, sports and…Greece – A week full of news →

Update on German FDI – Government about to prohibit medical deal

We have given our readers a short overview about the history of foreign investment control in Germany here and have also blogged about certain cases (here). Yesterday, news broke that the German government is set to block the acquisition of Heyer Medical AG by the Chinese Aeonmed – a deal that apparently closed more than … Continue reading Update on German FDI – Government about to prohibit medical deal →

A history of challenging big tech – Part I: Interoperability and a Media Player

Everyone speaks about regulating big tech. We have also blogged about this topic several times (inter alia here, here and here). In the context of the current discussion, however, it should not be forgotten that "regulating big tech" already has a certain history. The current draft of the Digital Markets Act also contains some provisions … Continue reading A history of challenging big tech – Part I: Interoperability and a Media Player →

Take it or leave it: Referrals in the EU

There has been quite some talk lately about how the European Commission and national regulators will deal with their respective competences once the Digital Market Act has been set into force. In merger control, referrals in both directions are well established with some very crucial legal and political questions currently in the spotlight. An opportunity … Continue reading Take it or leave it: Referrals in the EU →