54 results 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. Environmental activities – from establishment to environmentally harmful activity (milieubelastende activiteit) Under the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet), the concept of establishment is no longer the focal point for the regulation, but rather the environmentally harmful activity. In this blog post, we among others describe what happens to permits. ESG risk management: developments in the Dutch and EU financial sector What ESG risk rules are coming for EU/Dutch financial firms? DNB’s new climate risk Guide for insurers, pension funds, and payment firms aligns with EBA ESG Guidelines. This blog explains how both shape the future of EU ESG risk management. The Guidelines for providers of General Purpose AI Models are here: the 10^23 FLOPS question? The European Commission published Guidelines for GPAI model providers, helping them understand AI Act requirements for general purpose AI models before the 2 August 2025 compliance deadline. 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. Meta fined for Facebook Marketplace’s Unfair Trading Conditions and Tying 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. Developments in DMA land: EU tags Big Tech as first Gatekeepers The European Commission has designated six Tech Giants (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft) as gatekeepers for 22 core platform services under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Navigating access refusals after the ECJ’s Google Android Auto-ruling Big Tech faces challenges when denying third parties access to its open platforms. The European Court of Justice has ruled that a dominant company’s refusal to make its open platform compatible with a third-party app may be abusive. Google Android-ruling: Commission flunks AEC test once again The AEC test has likely assumed mythic status at the European Commission with the EU courts striking down its AEC analysis for a third time. Nevertheless, the Commission seems on the right track to tackling abuse of dominance in the digital sector. Widening the net: The Dutch government proposes to broaden the scope of the Vifo Act The Vifo Act continues to evolve: Dutch government to extend the scope of the general Dutch FDI screening regime to cover six additional technologies. Taking initiative: ACM catches transaction ahead of new powers M&A transactions falling below the merger notification thresholds are not necessarily exempt from scrutiny. Companies should therefore carefully assess the potential competitive impact of their transactions, as the ACM has proven to be vigilant. Happy first anniversary! One year of the Vifo Act: an update On the first of June, the Dutch national security investment screening regime (the Vifo Act) celebrated its first anniversary. Time to take stock of key findings and forthcoming developments. 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. 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? Competition law developments in 2022 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. Abuse: an access request you can’t refuse? 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. Privacy and Cookie Policy European Commission’s infringement procedure against the Netherlands: review and evaluation of water permits required under the WFD This blog addresses the European Commission's infringement procedure against the Netherlands regarding the evaluation of water licences under the Water Framework Directive, the Dutch legislature's approach and the consequences for issued permits. Pagination Previous page Page 1 Page 2 Current page 3
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.
Environmental activities – from establishment to environmentally harmful activity (milieubelastende activiteit) Under the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet), the concept of establishment is no longer the focal point for the regulation, but rather the environmentally harmful activity. In this blog post, we among others describe what happens to permits.
ESG risk management: developments in the Dutch and EU financial sector What ESG risk rules are coming for EU/Dutch financial firms? DNB’s new climate risk Guide for insurers, pension funds, and payment firms aligns with EBA ESG Guidelines. This blog explains how both shape the future of EU ESG risk management.
The Guidelines for providers of General Purpose AI Models are here: the 10^23 FLOPS question? The European Commission published Guidelines for GPAI model providers, helping them understand AI Act requirements for general purpose AI models before the 2 August 2025 compliance deadline.
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.
Meta fined for Facebook Marketplace’s Unfair Trading Conditions and Tying 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.
Developments in DMA land: EU tags Big Tech as first Gatekeepers The European Commission has designated six Tech Giants (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft) as gatekeepers for 22 core platform services under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Navigating access refusals after the ECJ’s Google Android Auto-ruling Big Tech faces challenges when denying third parties access to its open platforms. The European Court of Justice has ruled that a dominant company’s refusal to make its open platform compatible with a third-party app may be abusive.
Google Android-ruling: Commission flunks AEC test once again The AEC test has likely assumed mythic status at the European Commission with the EU courts striking down its AEC analysis for a third time. Nevertheless, the Commission seems on the right track to tackling abuse of dominance in the digital sector.
Widening the net: The Dutch government proposes to broaden the scope of the Vifo Act The Vifo Act continues to evolve: Dutch government to extend the scope of the general Dutch FDI screening regime to cover six additional technologies.
Taking initiative: ACM catches transaction ahead of new powers M&A transactions falling below the merger notification thresholds are not necessarily exempt from scrutiny. Companies should therefore carefully assess the potential competitive impact of their transactions, as the ACM has proven to be vigilant.
Happy first anniversary! One year of the Vifo Act: an update On the first of June, the Dutch national security investment screening regime (the Vifo Act) celebrated its first anniversary. Time to take stock of key findings and forthcoming developments.
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.
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?
Competition law developments in 2022 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.
Abuse: an access request you can’t refuse? 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.
European Commission’s infringement procedure against the Netherlands: review and evaluation of water permits required under the WFD This blog addresses the European Commission's infringement procedure against the Netherlands regarding the evaluation of water licences under the Water Framework Directive, the Dutch legislature's approach and the consequences for issued permits.