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Pharma companies beware: discount schemes by former patent owners raise red flags at competition authorities.

Nothing is more fickle than information exchange: it changes colour under EU competition rules depending on the nature of the relationship between the exchanging companies.

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 r

Companies involved in M&A transactions had better think twice before temporarily parking a target undertaking with an interim buyer.

On 6 October 2021, the European Court of Justice issued a landmark judgment in the Sumal case.

Companies should brace themselves for multiple multi-jurisdictional dawn raids over the coming months.

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.

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.

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.

Pre-closing covenants protecting the target’s value or commercial integrity pending merger clearance from the European Commission must be drafted carefully.

The European Court of Justice has confirmed that Google abused its dominance by favouring its own shopping comparison service and demoting competing ones. However, not all favouritism is doomed.

The European Court of Justice has upheld the annulment of Intel’s EUR 1.06 billion fine for abuse of dominance. The judgment provides guidance on how to assess the anti-competitiveness of loyalty rebates.

The Commission recently published its Draft Guidelines on Exclusionary Abuses of Dominance, which are meant to reflect the EU case law. However, they seem to deviate on important aspects, arguably simplifying the assessment for establishing an abuse.

For the first time, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets conducted a merger review involving a ‘roll-up strategy’. The outcome of another roll-up strategy merger assessment is pending.

Tom Verdonk has co-edited the book ‘Unfair Trading Practices in the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain’, recently published by Larcier-Intersentia.

The European Commission is adding powers to its toolbox to ensure a level playing field between European and foreign(-backed) companies active on the EU market.