News
Belgian Competition Law: the Act of 19 March 2024 gives new powers to the Belgian Competition Authority to support the European Commission’s competences under the Digital Markets Act (Carmen Verdonck and Nina Methens)
On 28 March 2024, the Belgian Federal Chamber of Representatives adopted a new act implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives...
Germany becomes more attractive for antitrust litigation thanks to an increasing acceptance of the assignment model
German case law has so far been skeptical of the pursuit of large portfolios of antitrust damages claims under the so-called assignment model. This development now seems to have been stopped and Germany is once again becoming a more attractive forum for antitrust...
Lithuanian Competition Council Fines Capital Realty and Franchise Agencies for Anti-Competitive Practices
On 14 May 2024 the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania fined Capital Realty (acting as a franchisor) and 20 of its franchised real estate agencies with a total fine of EUR 710,751 for price fixing agreement. Capital Realty and other members of “Capital”...
New guidelines for the Belgian rules on foreign direct investment (Beatrijs Gielen and Carmen Verdonck)
Since 1 July 2023, the Belgian rules on the screening of foreign direct investments (“FDI”) have been in force. As the decisions of the Interfederal Screening Commission (“ISC”) are not published, the rules’ application and interpretation still raise a lot of legal...
Belgian Competition Authority fines kitchen accessories company Le Creuset for resale price maintenance (by Beatrijs Gielen, Carmen Verdonck)
Antitrust issues in vertical relationships are no longer below the competition authorities' ‘radar’. This trend of not only focusing on horizontal but also on vertical competition law infringements has once more been seen with the Belgian Competition Authority’s...
Recent developments in Estonia regarding competition policy and enforcement
Recent developments in Estonia regarding competition policy and enforcement This article provides a brief overview of recent key developments in Estonia regarding competition policy and enforcement. Namely, the status of the transposition of the ECN+ Directive into...
Green screens: Ireland’s new FDI regime set to go live
Green screens: Ireland’s new FDI regime set to go live Overview In October 2023, the Irish Parliament signed into law the Screening of Third Country Transactions Act 2023 (“STCTA”). The new law is set to take effect in the second quarter of 2024 after a Ministerial...
A preliminary reference by the Portuguese Competition Court: (Un)lawful apprehension of emails in antitrust proceedings?
Introduction: This Article aims to provide an overview on the recent preliminary reference initiated by the Portuguese Competition Court within the purview of various legal proceedings pertaining to decisions rendered by the Portuguese Competition Authority (“PCA”),...
Joint bids by bus companies found to be illegal horizontal cooperation in Finland
Introduction In accordance with the well-established main rule, a bidding consortium does not restrict competition if it allows the parties to participate in projects that they would not be able to undertake individually, e.g., due to the size or complexity of the...