EU and Competition Law
Our EU and Competition Law team has unrivalled experience in providing cutting-edge technical and strategic advice in complex domestic and cross-border EU and competition law matters, to ensure the best possible outcome for our clients.
Our specialists have a wealth of expertise in EU law and all areas of domestic and EU competition law, including cartels and anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance and economic dependence, merger control, State aid, follow-on civil litigation, foreign direct investment regulation, internal market (secondary) legislation, regulated markets, trade law and unfair commercial practices. We advise clients in various sectors.
Services
Our experts successfully represent leading businesses in landmark cases brought before the national authorities, European Commission, national courts, and the European Courts in Luxembourg in the following areas:
Anti-competitive agreements - Antitrust authorities have recently stepped up their action against anti-competitive agreements, including cartels. We advise clients on how to avoid procedures and assist them during every stage of investigation.
Abuse of dominance - We help clients navigate questions and litigation related to abuse of a dominant position, including on the rapidly evolving prohibition of economic dependence.
Merger control and foreign direct investment (FDI) regulation - We assist clients with multi-jurisdictional merger control and FDI analyses, and with the entire notification process before the relevant authorities.
State aid - Our intervention covers the structuring of projects, the preparation and defence of notifications, the recovery of illegal aid, and the handling of infringement procedures.
Follow-on civil litigation - We have an integrated Antitrust Litigation Group that specialises in defending clients against antitrust civil (follow-on) damage claims and damage claims following illegal State aid.
EU law - We act on the free movement of goods, services and capital, customs law, secondary EU legislation, EU taxation, contract disputes, general EU principles, and public tenders.
Regulatory investigations and compliance - The regulation of markets such as finance, energy and media, and product regulation is becoming increasingly complex. We support our clients’ needs in these areas.
Unfair commercial practices - Our experience with unfair competition law and consumer protection includes unfair trading practices, unfair contract terms, e-commerce, geo-blocking, online platforms, collective redress and digital services. Furthermore, we advise clients on the implications of online sales regulation and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). We also help them find the correctly structured actions, promotions, and publicity.
On a cross-border level, we maintain strong relationships with leading law firms in jurisdictions around the world, enabling us to provide sound advice in all cases.