91 results Brand owners beware: Commission tough on cross-border sales restrictions The European Commission recently imposed a EUR 6.2 million fine on Hello Kitty owner Sanrio for preventing its licensees from selling licensed merchandising products across the entire EEA. No fine means no reason to appeal? Think again! Whistleblowers who have had their fine reduced to zero may still have an interest in challenging an antitrust decision. ECJ answers preliminary questions on jurisdiction in cartel damage case On 29 July 2019, the ECJ handed down a preliminary ruling concerning jurisdiction in follow-on damages proceedings in what is termed the trucks cartel. The ACM has to pay: moral damages awarded to real estate traders The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) needs to cough up a total of EUR 120,000 in moral damages to three real estate traders. De Amsterdamse milieuzone voor brom- en snorfietsen Deze blog is het vierde deel in een reeks Stibbeblogs over gemeentelijke milieuzones. In 2017 oordeelde de Afdeling over de milieuzone voor personen- en bestelauto’s met dieselmotoren in Utrecht. Launch of Metaverse blog series Stibbe launches a new blog series focusing on the legal challenges of the Metaverse. In our upcoming blog posts, we will discuss the legal challenges of NFTs, crypto-assets, Metaverse platforms, crypto exchanges, DAO, and many more. ACM is verplicht om het besluit waarin zij afziet tot oplegging van een boete te publiceren De Instellingswet Autoriteit Consument en Markt verplicht de ACM om een besluit waarbij een ernstige overtreding (zoals overtreding van het kartelverbod) is geconstateerd, maar waarbij is afgezien van het opleggen van een boete toch openbaar te maken. Belgian watchdog tackles bid rigging In recent cases in the fire protection and private security sectors, the Belgian Competition Authority has made the prosecution of bid-rigging one of its top priorities, imposing hefty fines on infringers for their participation in cartel schemes. Sharing is caring? Commission can take over NCA probe 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. No impairment of the EC’s impartiality: ECJ upholds Scania judgment The ECJ upheld the Commission’s fine on Scania for participating in a cartel. The Commission’s impartiality is not necessarily impaired by having the Commission case team in charge of the settlement procedure also deal with the penalty decision. You win some, you lose some: Google AdSense decision annulled 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. Costly Capsules: Court calls foul on Leadiant On 13 February 2025, the District Court of Rotterdam upheld the ACM’s approach in its ruling on the appeal against the regulator’s first-ever excessive pricing fine. Ali al Khatib Senior Associate Amsterdam Second time lucky: Intel’s EUR 1.06 billion loyalty rebate fine quashed Intel’s second round at the General Court was significantly more successful than its first. In the first round, the General Court had failed to analyse whether the loyalty rebates at issue were capable of restricting competition. In the second round, afte ECJ: private enforcement in aviation sector also a national court's game Recently, the ECJ ruled that national courts dealing with private enforcement cases are competent to apply EU competition law to historical behaviour in the aviation sector. Google Shopping: self-preferencing is a form of abuse of dominance On 10 November 2021, the General Court (GC) almost entirely dismissed Google’s action against the European Commission’s Google Shopping decision. Gun jumping: beware, the Commission will take action The Commission has imposed interim measures on Illumina and GRAIL. These measures include the obligation to run GRAIL by independent management. EU Compass: Boosting competitiveness as North Star 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. Pagination Previous page Page 3 Current page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Next page
Brand owners beware: Commission tough on cross-border sales restrictions The European Commission recently imposed a EUR 6.2 million fine on Hello Kitty owner Sanrio for preventing its licensees from selling licensed merchandising products across the entire EEA.
No fine means no reason to appeal? Think again! Whistleblowers who have had their fine reduced to zero may still have an interest in challenging an antitrust decision.
ECJ answers preliminary questions on jurisdiction in cartel damage case On 29 July 2019, the ECJ handed down a preliminary ruling concerning jurisdiction in follow-on damages proceedings in what is termed the trucks cartel.
The ACM has to pay: moral damages awarded to real estate traders The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) needs to cough up a total of EUR 120,000 in moral damages to three real estate traders.
De Amsterdamse milieuzone voor brom- en snorfietsen Deze blog is het vierde deel in een reeks Stibbeblogs over gemeentelijke milieuzones. In 2017 oordeelde de Afdeling over de milieuzone voor personen- en bestelauto’s met dieselmotoren in Utrecht.
Launch of Metaverse blog series Stibbe launches a new blog series focusing on the legal challenges of the Metaverse. In our upcoming blog posts, we will discuss the legal challenges of NFTs, crypto-assets, Metaverse platforms, crypto exchanges, DAO, and many more.
ACM is verplicht om het besluit waarin zij afziet tot oplegging van een boete te publiceren De Instellingswet Autoriteit Consument en Markt verplicht de ACM om een besluit waarbij een ernstige overtreding (zoals overtreding van het kartelverbod) is geconstateerd, maar waarbij is afgezien van het opleggen van een boete toch openbaar te maken.
Belgian watchdog tackles bid rigging In recent cases in the fire protection and private security sectors, the Belgian Competition Authority has made the prosecution of bid-rigging one of its top priorities, imposing hefty fines on infringers for their participation in cartel schemes.
Sharing is caring? Commission can take over NCA probe 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.
No impairment of the EC’s impartiality: ECJ upholds Scania judgment The ECJ upheld the Commission’s fine on Scania for participating in a cartel. The Commission’s impartiality is not necessarily impaired by having the Commission case team in charge of the settlement procedure also deal with the penalty decision.
You win some, you lose some: Google AdSense decision annulled 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.
Costly Capsules: Court calls foul on Leadiant On 13 February 2025, the District Court of Rotterdam upheld the ACM’s approach in its ruling on the appeal against the regulator’s first-ever excessive pricing fine.
Second time lucky: Intel’s EUR 1.06 billion loyalty rebate fine quashed Intel’s second round at the General Court was significantly more successful than its first. In the first round, the General Court had failed to analyse whether the loyalty rebates at issue were capable of restricting competition. In the second round, afte
ECJ: private enforcement in aviation sector also a national court's game Recently, the ECJ ruled that national courts dealing with private enforcement cases are competent to apply EU competition law to historical behaviour in the aviation sector.
Google Shopping: self-preferencing is a form of abuse of dominance On 10 November 2021, the General Court (GC) almost entirely dismissed Google’s action against the European Commission’s Google Shopping decision.
Gun jumping: beware, the Commission will take action The Commission has imposed interim measures on Illumina and GRAIL. These measures include the obligation to run GRAIL by independent management.
EU Compass: Boosting competitiveness as North Star 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.