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Are ‘European champion’ companies walled off from unfair (foreign) competition the future? The European Commission recently presented its Competitiveness Compass to navigate the European Union to strengthened competitiveness.

On 29 April 2025, the Belgian Competition Authority announced its sectoral and strategic priorities. These priorities reflect a confident authority that seeks to strengthen its enforcement tools to meet new challenges in competition law.

On 20 February 2025, the Belgian Supreme Court confirmed that under Belgian law an abuse of economic dependence may be found even in a situation where there is no contractual relationship between the companies involved.

On 1 February 2018, the European Court of Justice dismissed the appeals by several freight forwarders for their participation in various infringements in the sector for international air freight forwarding services.

The Foreign Subsidies Regulation has celebrated one year of its application. Time for companies to take stock of the lessons learnt from key developments of this first year. However, ambiguities remain and more is yet to come. Watch this space!

Where is the line between openness and protectionism in the European single market? At both EU and national level, more and more protective barriers against foreign investors and acquirers have been created in the international competition.

On 17 September 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA Court) ruled that national limitation periods should not make damages claims impossible or excessively difficult.

On 20 June 2025, the Dutch Supreme Court referred questions to the CJEU in an antitrust damages case on trucks manufacturing. This blog explores the events leading to this pivotal moment and the key questions posed.

In this blog, we briefly present three interesting matters in the field of digital law: (1) Parliamentary initiatives to tackle cyber attacks; (2) 'Zero tariff' options and open internet access do not mix; (3) Council of State, GDPR and encryption.

On 23 February 2022, the European Commission published its draft Data Act, i.e. a proposal for a regulation on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data. The text is part of the European strategy for data launched by the Commission in 2020.

The clock is ticking for companies to set the record straight on resale price maintenance (RPM). Retailers must be able to determine their own retail prices without any direct or indirect meddling by suppliers.

On 18 July 2023, the Luxembourg law of 14 July 2023 establishing a mechanism for the national screening of foreign direct investments likely to undermine security or public order has been published in the Official Journal of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

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.

The European Commission has fined Mondelēz EUR 337.5 million for restricting cross-border trade. Brand owners are advised to double-check their licensing and distribution systems, as well as their commercial conduct, for possible territorial restraints.

Unfair trading conditions and tying are gaining traction as alleged abusive practices in the digital industry, as the European Commission fines Meta EUR 797.72 million for hindering competitors of Facebook Marketplace.

On 23 October 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority (the BCA) concluded its first hybrid cartel proceedings by imposing a fine of EUR 778.777 on CERP SA (CERP) for participating in anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical distribution sector.

On 31 January 2025, Belgium's Government Agreement for 2025-2029 was published, focusing on strengthening competition, safeguarding tech expertise, and increasing subsidy transparency. However, more steps are needed to define practical implementation.

Following the EC’s Horizontal Guidelines, the ACM and CMA have also published updated guidance on sustainability agreements. The approaches adopted by the three authorities are largely similar, but leave room for divergent assessments in some respects.