A blog about the intersection of antitrust, foreign investment control, politics, and everything in between
Anyone who still doubted that politics play an increasing role in antitrust should by now be convinced of the opposite: The recent appointment of the new Chief Economist at the European Commission is another instance where antitrust made it to the mainstream press across Europe. This post provides a short summary of what happened and … Continue reading Politics in antitrust – Look no further
The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation will start to apply in about two weeks. While some things are still in limbo, the European Commission has published a Q&A to clarify certain topics. The Q&A admittedly went online earlier this month, but I could not find a good summary so far – so I thought the one … Continue reading Clarifications on Foreign Subsidies
Co-authored by Carolin Goldbeck Those of you who follow this blog closely will remember that we touched upon the Pharmaceutical Merger Task Force, consisting of American and European regulators, in a short paragraph a while ago (here). Back then, we did not see any dramatic changes in the approach of competition authorities to assess mergers … Continue reading Pharma and mergers – future alignment of multinational competition issues?
Even though it is raining while I am writing this, summertime is here, and with it high season for festivals and concerts. Agencies help with organizing and booking artists for these sorts of events. As in any other area, antitrust regulators are tasked with keeping the market open, at least to the extent they have … Continue reading Circumventing a merger prohibition
Antitrust used to be a niche. Known to practitioners and experts, of course. Cases were kept, progressed, and negotiated in that environment. Those times are long gone. We have seen an increasing trend towards companies turning to publicity and PR campaigns as a tool in both merger control and antitrust proceedings. PR work is used … Continue reading PR campaigns in antitrust
Today, the European Commission adopted a package to simplify its merger control process for transactions that do not raise concerns. Many practitioners will agree that in the past, opting to submit a simplified filing did not necessarily simplify or expedite a case. Let’s take a look at how the Commission intends to change that. Merger … Continue reading Simplifying EU merger control filings
I must admit I am a huge fan of energy drinks. In case I really need to stay awake and focused, I tend to drink them already for breakfast, which some people in my immediate environment find a little peculiar. However, maybe that is why I took notice when news of a dawn raid at … Continue reading Does antitrust law set limits to wings?
Co-authored by Friederike Melters. Earlier this month, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared dawn raids by the European Commission invalid. The decisions confirm that a “procedural” step like a dawn raid can be appealed by itself and that it can be invalid because of previous procedural mistakes. They tie in with other court decisions, … Continue reading Procedural errors – rich case law and five key takeaways
This week has seen two highlights in cartel investigations: Coordinated international dawn raids in the fragrance industry and a warning to small businesses that they are not exempt from antitrust enforcement. Here are the key reasons why both cases are important. For years, we have observed decreasing numbers of leniency applications, cartel cases and cartel … Continue reading Cartels are back!?
The ruling was admittedly published already at the end of last year, but I feel it did not receive the attention it deserved, and I was anyway interested in taking a deeper dive: The Higher Regional Court of Duesseldorf found that the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) did not have jurisdiction to review Meta’s acquisition … Continue reading German regulator overturned: No substantial activity in Germany
Antitrustpolitics.com 