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On 9 March 2023, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the European Commission should properly record interviews if they are used to gather information regarding the subject matter of the investigation.

Beware of the fine line in antitrust investigations between illegal fishing expeditions and accidental discoveries pointing at a separate antitrust infringement.

The ACM needs to ‘try, try again’ when assessing healthcare mergers. The Rotterdam District Court overturned two of the ACM’s healthcare merger prohibitions within less than two months.

There is no magical number when it comes to “4-to-3” telecom mergers. On 28/5/2020, the EU’s General Court handed down a landmark judgment annulling a 2016 decision of the European Commission blocking the merger between O2 UK and Three.

National courts upheld the approach by two national competition authorities towards indirect information exchange, lowering the standard of proof for collusion by competitors when receiving competitively sensitive information from a buyer (or supplier).

The European Commission recently adopted a package to simplify its procedures for reviewing concentrations under the EU Merger regulation. Under the new rules, more cases can benefit from the simplified procedure.

2021 was riddled with sneak previews of a “review of competition policy tools with unprecedented scope and ambition”.

A high market share is not always proof of a dominant position. The Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb) upheld the annulment of the ACM’s fine of nearly EUR 41 million on Dutch railway operator NS for alleged abuse of dominance.

Companies should check their merger information for accuracy, truthfulness and completeness before handing it over to the European Commission.

Checking for merger control notification obligations and Foreign Direct Investment screening mechanisms will be on the list for most companies involved in M&A deals.

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.

Only dominant companies with a “genuinely tight grip” on the market can be forced to grant rivals access to their infrastructure.

In hybrid cartel proceedings (in which one party opts out of settlement), settlement decisions should not pre-judge the outcome of the Commission's investigation into non-settling parties.

Digital mergers have steered competition authorities away from their usual mantra of structural over behavioural remedies. The Rotterdam District Court recently gave its blessing to the ACM’s remedies for securing access to a digital school platform.

On 25 March 2021, the ECJ ended the Lundbeck pay-for-delay saga by dismissing the appeals from Lundbeck and five generic manufacturers against a European Commission ‘pay-for-delay’ decision.

Floris ten Have and Kaj Privé contributed to Getting the Deal Through – Cartel Regulation 2021. In their publication, Floris and Kaj discuss important issues that apply to cartel regulation in the Netherlands.

On 16 February 2021, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal set aside a judgment of the Amsterdam District Court in which the District Court declined jurisdiction over the alleged claims against Athenian Brewery, a Greek subsidiary of Heineken N.V.

Recently, the European Commission issued an implementing decision on standard new contractual clauses (“SCCs”) for the transfer of personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area.