21 results 2022: the big reveal of 2021’s competition law promises 2021 was riddled with sneak previews of a “review of competition policy tools with unprecedented scope and ambition”. Slovak Telekom: ECJ on essentials of the ‘essential facilities’ doctrine Only dominant companies with a “genuinely tight grip” on the market can be forced to grant rivals access to their infrastructure. Pay-for-delay saga ends with nothing new; but pharma quest continues 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. Park your parking structures: EU Court upholds Canon’s gun jumping fine Companies involved in M&A transactions had better think twice before temporarily parking a target undertaking with an interim buyer. ECJ confirms: no shortcut for ‘by object’ antitrust infringements The European Court of Justice has found there is no shortcut for determining whether particular conduct can be held to have the object to restrict competition. On the right track? GC sends mixed messages with Lithuanian Railways The essential facilities doctrine imposes on holders of indispensable facilities a duty to deal with their competitors. General Court confirms: no proof, no dawn raid The Commission should think twice before conducting a dawn raid. The General Court partially annulled three Commission decisions ordering dawn raids at the premises of French supermarkets for a lack of sufficiently strong evidence. General court dismisses all five appeals in the optical disk drives cartel The General Court recently upheld a Commission decision finding that suppliers of optical disk drives colluded in bids for sales to Dell and HP by engaging in a network of parallel bilateral contacts over a multi-year period. Extended access to electronic data for the Belgian Competition Authority The Belgian legislator has amended some competition law provisions in Book IV Code of Economic law. The new provision on access to data of electronic communications operators endows the Belgian Competition Authority with new investigation powers. The vertical fight continues: two more cases on vertical restraints Companies should not take competition rules lightly in their supply relationships. The EU General Court's Valve judgment and the ACM's LG decision illustrate the consistent attention to vertical restraints. Employers beware: the Commission joins the ‘labour party’ Companies should review their recruitment and hiring policies and practices. The Commission has joined the hunt for ‘job cartels’ with its first ever cartel in the labour market. Court of Appeal rules on limitation period for follow-on claims under Brazilian law in antitrust damages case concerning the cathode-ray tube markets On 17 June 2025, The Court of Appeal of 's-Hertogenbosch rendered a judgment in antitrust follow-on damages litigation concerning the cathode-ray tube markets, ruling on – amongst other things – the commencement of the limitation. Dutch court confirms: Samsung's 'price recommendations' practices were unlawful The Rotterdam District Court has delivered its judgment in the ACM's first-ever vertical restraints case. It upholds the fine imposed on Samsung for coordinating its retailers' online consumer prices under the pretence of 'price recommendations'. First application of Towercast in Belgium and merger filing exemption for certain hospital merger The Belgian Competition Authority has applied the Towercast case law in a first case in Belgium. It could possibly try do so again for certain hospital mergers that the legislator has recently exempted from merger filing in Belgium. Competition law in 2024: putting theory into practice 2023 marked the near finale of the European Commission’s overhaul of its competition policy, leaving only a few loose ends to tie up in 2024/2025. It is now time to watch theory be put into practice by the competition authorities and at the courts. Belgian Competition Authority confirms jurisdiction for M&A transactions in hospital sector On 14 July 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority confirmed its jurisdiction to review M&A transactions between hospitals, regardless of whether these hospitals belong to the same hospital network. Digital antitrust conduct: too elusive to catch? The ink on the Digital Market Act has barely dried, but fast-evolving digital developments already have competition authorities calling for new tools. Is Big Tech not kept in check by the DMA, the antitrust rules and the EU Merger Regulation after all? Say cheese! Are your distribution agreements picture-perfect? Suppliers and distributors should double-check their agreements. The European Court of Justice has provided guidance for the assessment of exclusive distribution agreements. Pagination Current page 1 Page 2 Next page
2022: the big reveal of 2021’s competition law promises 2021 was riddled with sneak previews of a “review of competition policy tools with unprecedented scope and ambition”.
Slovak Telekom: ECJ on essentials of the ‘essential facilities’ doctrine Only dominant companies with a “genuinely tight grip” on the market can be forced to grant rivals access to their infrastructure.
Pay-for-delay saga ends with nothing new; but pharma quest continues 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.
Park your parking structures: EU Court upholds Canon’s gun jumping fine Companies involved in M&A transactions had better think twice before temporarily parking a target undertaking with an interim buyer.
ECJ confirms: no shortcut for ‘by object’ antitrust infringements The European Court of Justice has found there is no shortcut for determining whether particular conduct can be held to have the object to restrict competition.
On the right track? GC sends mixed messages with Lithuanian Railways The essential facilities doctrine imposes on holders of indispensable facilities a duty to deal with their competitors.
General Court confirms: no proof, no dawn raid The Commission should think twice before conducting a dawn raid. The General Court partially annulled three Commission decisions ordering dawn raids at the premises of French supermarkets for a lack of sufficiently strong evidence.
General court dismisses all five appeals in the optical disk drives cartel The General Court recently upheld a Commission decision finding that suppliers of optical disk drives colluded in bids for sales to Dell and HP by engaging in a network of parallel bilateral contacts over a multi-year period.
Extended access to electronic data for the Belgian Competition Authority The Belgian legislator has amended some competition law provisions in Book IV Code of Economic law. The new provision on access to data of electronic communications operators endows the Belgian Competition Authority with new investigation powers.
The vertical fight continues: two more cases on vertical restraints Companies should not take competition rules lightly in their supply relationships. The EU General Court's Valve judgment and the ACM's LG decision illustrate the consistent attention to vertical restraints.
Employers beware: the Commission joins the ‘labour party’ Companies should review their recruitment and hiring policies and practices. The Commission has joined the hunt for ‘job cartels’ with its first ever cartel in the labour market.
Court of Appeal rules on limitation period for follow-on claims under Brazilian law in antitrust damages case concerning the cathode-ray tube markets On 17 June 2025, The Court of Appeal of 's-Hertogenbosch rendered a judgment in antitrust follow-on damages litigation concerning the cathode-ray tube markets, ruling on – amongst other things – the commencement of the limitation.
Dutch court confirms: Samsung's 'price recommendations' practices were unlawful The Rotterdam District Court has delivered its judgment in the ACM's first-ever vertical restraints case. It upholds the fine imposed on Samsung for coordinating its retailers' online consumer prices under the pretence of 'price recommendations'.
First application of Towercast in Belgium and merger filing exemption for certain hospital merger The Belgian Competition Authority has applied the Towercast case law in a first case in Belgium. It could possibly try do so again for certain hospital mergers that the legislator has recently exempted from merger filing in Belgium.
Competition law in 2024: putting theory into practice 2023 marked the near finale of the European Commission’s overhaul of its competition policy, leaving only a few loose ends to tie up in 2024/2025. It is now time to watch theory be put into practice by the competition authorities and at the courts.
Belgian Competition Authority confirms jurisdiction for M&A transactions in hospital sector On 14 July 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority confirmed its jurisdiction to review M&A transactions between hospitals, regardless of whether these hospitals belong to the same hospital network.
Digital antitrust conduct: too elusive to catch? The ink on the Digital Market Act has barely dried, but fast-evolving digital developments already have competition authorities calling for new tools. Is Big Tech not kept in check by the DMA, the antitrust rules and the EU Merger Regulation after all?
Say cheese! Are your distribution agreements picture-perfect? Suppliers and distributors should double-check their agreements. The European Court of Justice has provided guidance for the assessment of exclusive distribution agreements.