Christof Swaak speaks at IBA’s 20th Annual Competition Conference in Florence

Short Reads - In deze Stibbe Legal Insights gaan Bram Schmidt, Ida Mae de Waal en Christian van Maaren in op het juridisch kader bij circulariteit. Zij bespreken de transitie naar een circulaire economie en hoe bedrijven, ondanks de beperkingen van huidige wet- en regelgeving, meer circulair kunnen opereren. Ook bespreken zij hoe bedrijven zich kunnen voorbereiden op nieuwe Europese wet- en regelgeving op het gebied van hergebruik, recyclen en circulair productontwerp.

Short Reads - On 12 May 2022, Advocate General (AG) Emiliou delivered his Opinion proposing that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismiss HSBC’s appeal. Although the AG criticised the General Court’s analysis of the procedural aspects and its understanding of the ‘by object’ case law, he found that, were the grounds of the General Court’s judgment to be substituted, the operative part of the judgment could be considered well founded based on the adjusted legal grounds. Therefore, the General Court’s errors have not affected the outcome of the proceedings against HSBC.

Short Reads - The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) entered into force on 1 June 2022. The new VBER is stricter on dual distribution and across-platform retail parity obligations than the old one, but is more lenient towards active sales and online sales restrictions. It also provides more guidance on the rules for exclusive and selective distribution systems.

Short Reads - Companies beware: new Dutch and EU transactional hurdles are coming closer. In the Netherlands, new national security investment screening rules are imminent. At the same time, the adoption of the EU regulation on foreign subsidies will only be a matter of time. Time for companies to put these extra hurdles on their M&A radar.