31.07.2017 EU law Stibbe represents MAN Experience - Stibbe acts as co-counsel to MAN regarding the European Commission's finding of an antitrust infringement in the truck manufacturing industry. Read more Team: Christof Swaak, Jeroen Kortmann, Roos Elemans
26.07.2017 EU law Stibbe represents ExxonMobil Experience - Stibbe acted as defence counsel for ExxonMobil in "follow-on" litigation initiated by 'claims vehicle' CDC. CDC seeks damages for loss allegedly suffered as a result of an antitrust infringement in the European market for paraffin wax. Read more Team: Christof Swaak, Jeroen Kortmann
03.07.2017 EU law Stibbe represents voestalpine Experience - Stibbe represents voestalpine in antitrust damage litigation following on from the European Commission's finding of an antitrust infringement in the pre-stressing steel sector Read more Team: Christof Swaak, Matthijs Kuijpers
29.04.2022 NL law Elske Raedts new counsel at Stibbe Inside Stibbe - We are pleased to announce that Elske Raedts will be joining Stibbe’s Amsterdam office as counsel. Her appointment as from 1 May 2022 will further strengthen our leading competition practice. Read more Team: Elske Raedts, Hans Witteveen, Rein Wesseling, Floris ten Have
02.12.2021 NL law Back to the future – Commission publishes roadmap for green and digital challenges Short Reads - The Commission’s Communication “A competition policy fit for new challenges” (link) (the “Communication”) identifies key areas in which competition law and policy can support European efforts in dealing with the challenges of the green and digital transitions. The document covers all areas of competition law (antitrust, merger control, and State aid) and identifies various ways in which new and existing tools can contribute to addressing these challenges. Read more Floris ten Have Partner Amsterdam
07.10.2021 NL law Commission’s record fine for gun jumping upheld Short Reads - Pre-closing covenants protecting the target’s value or commercial integrity pending merger clearance from the European Commission must be drafted carefully. The General Court confirmed the Commission’s record-breaking fines on Altice for violating the EU Merger Regulation’s notification and standstill obligations. According to the General Court, the mere possibility of exercising decisive influence over the target can result in a gun jumping breach. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Simone Evans
07.10.2021 NL law ACM walks the walk: first-ever vertical price coordination fine Short Reads - The Dutch Competition Authority (“ACM”) has claimed a first victim in its vertical restraints battle. Samsung Electronics was fined nearly EUR 40 million for having meddled in the online resale prices for televisions at seven retailers. Compared to the European Commission’s fines on four consumer electronics producers for resale price maintenance (“RPM”), the ACM’s summary decision seems to refer to a ‘light’ version of RPM: systematic price coordination without any threats, sanctions or incentives for the retailers to stick to the price. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Simone Evans
05.04.2022 NL law Game on for gatekeepers: Digital Markets Act finalised Short Reads - Now that political agreement has been reached on the final text, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will enter into force soon. The DMA’s ex ante rules and obligations will apply next to the ad hoc EU and national competition rules. Time for big digital companies to take stock of the potential implications of these additional rules on their day-to-day business operations. See our infographic for a concise overview of the DMA. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Simone Evans
02.12.2021 EU law ECJ: private enforcement in aviation sector also a national court's game Short Reads - Recently, the ECJ ruled that national courts dealing with private enforcement cases are competent to apply EU competition law to historical behaviour in the aviation sector, regardless of public enforcement by the Commission and national competition authorities, and regardless of whether or not such authorities had authority to pursue public enforcement in the relevant period. Read more Twan Heikens Junior Associate Amsterdam
07.10.2021 NL law Commission reveals first piece of antitrust sustainability puzzle Short Reads - The European Commission has published a Policy Brief setting out its preliminary views on how to fit the European Green Deal’s sustainability goals into the EU competition rules. Companies keen to be green may be left in limbo by a looming clash with more far-reaching proposals from national competition authorities. More pieces of the antitrust sustainability puzzle will fall into place as soon as the ongoing review of the guidelines on horizontal cooperation is finalised. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Simone Evans
03.06.2021 NL law First material judgment in Dutch damages proceedings in trucks infringement Short Reads - In its judgment of 12 May 2021, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that it has not been established that it is definitively excluded that the trucks infringement led to damage to the claimants. However, this does not alter the fact that it must still be assessed for each claimant whether the threshold for referral to the damages assessment procedure has been met. For this to be the case, it must be plausible that a claimant may have suffered damage as a result of the unlawful actions of the truck manufacturers. The Amsterdam District Court has not yet ruled on this issue. Read more Francis Blaauboer Junior Associate Amsterdam
02.12.2021 NL law Google Shopping: self-preferencing is a form of abuse of dominance Short Reads - On 10 November 2021, the General Court (GC) almost entirely dismissed Google’s action against the European Commission’s Google Shopping decision. According to the European Commission (the Commission), Google illegally favoured its own comparison shopping service by displaying it more prominently in its search results than other comparison shopping services (see our July 2017 Newsletter). The Commission found that Google was abusing its dominant position and imposed a EUR 2.42 billion. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Tjitske Kuiper
02.12.2021 NL law Gun jumping: beware, the Commission will take action Short Reads - The Commission has imposed interim measures on Illumina and GRAIL. These measures include the obligation to run GRAIL by independent management. By adopting interim measures in addition to opening an investigation into whether Illumina and Grail breached the standstill obligation, the Commission has made clear it will not shy away from tough action against gun jumping during an ongoing merger review. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Florentine Snoeker
07.10.2021 NL law Court of Appeal provides guidance for further course of proceedings in prestressing steel litigation Short Reads - On 27 July 2021, the Court of Appeal of Den Bosch issued an interim judgment in the Dutch prestressing steel litigation, ruling on three issues: (i) the obligation of claimant to furnish facts; (ii) the assignment of claims; and (iii) the liability of the parent companies. In short, the Court of Appeal allowed the claimant Deutsche Bahn another opportunity to supplement the facts needed to substantiate its claims in the next phase of the proceedings. Read more Mathilde Vijverberg Associate Amsterdam
03.06.2021 NL law Triple-check merger info to prevent costly fines – or worse Short Reads - Companies should check their merger information for accuracy, truthfulness and completeness before handing it over to the European Commission: providing incorrect or misleading information can lead to significant fines and even to the merger clearance decision being revoked. Read more Team: Floris ten Have, Simone Evans