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The General Court has annulled the EUR 1.49 billion fine imposed on Google. The Commission had failed to properly assess the allegedly abusive contractual clauses related to online advertising, including whether they actually had a lock-in effect.

While 2022 revolved around new and improved regulatory tools, the focus in 2023 will be on putting these tools to use. More merger-related obligations, digital sector scrutiny and clarity on competition-law and consumer-law aspects is imminent.

Companies beware: completed non-notifiable concentrations do not necessarily go scot-free. An ex post abuse-of-dominance investigation by national competition authorities (NCA) could still loom.

The European Court of Justice has confirmed that the essential facilities test is limited to ‘pure’ access cases. Infringement of a regulatory access obligation must be assessed under the general framework for abuse of dominance.

While 2022 revolved around new and improved regulatory tools, the focus in 2023 will be on putting these tools to use. More merger-related obligations, digital sector scrutiny and clarity on competition-law and consumer-law aspects is imminent.

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.

A potential major overhaul of EU merger control review began on 8 May 2025. Time for stakeholders to speak up about whether and particularly how the European Commission should incorporate wider strategic or societal objectives into its merger assessments.

Patent settlement agreements between originator pharmaceutical companies and generics manufacturers are a risky business. Originator medicine company Servier and five generic companies rolled the dice and the ECJ largely confirmed their antitrust fines.

Companies have a new and improved tool for the competitive assessment of their conduct and intended acquisitions. The European Commission has updated its guidance on how to define relevant markets for the purpose of EU competition law enforcement.

The EU case cooperation mechanism does not create any rights for companies to have their case dealt with by a particular competition authority. Companies should therefore factor the dynamics of this cooperation mechanism into their defence strategies.

The ACM will, possibly as a prelude to an upcoming New Competition Tool, launch market investigations into five sectors. Companies are well-advised to prepare for upcoming market investigations and potential solutions for identified market failures.

The Commission’s fight to avoid paying interest to Deutsche Telekom is over. The ECJ upheld the right of companies to receive interest on unduly collected antitrust fines, carrying a hefty price tag for the Commission.

The Belgian screening mechanism for FDIs will enter into force on 1 July 2023. The mechanism is designed to safeguard Belgium's critical infrastructure and to protect sectors crucial to Belgium's public order, national security and strategic interests.

Dutch investment screening is rapidly expanding: since June, the proposal for a separate defence regime has been published and the intended expansion of the regime of the Vifo Act to include AI and biotech has been announced. Reason for a quick update!

The Vifo Act continues to evolve: Dutch government to extend the scope of the general Dutch FDI screening regime to cover six additional technologies.

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 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.

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?