Tag: european commission
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A new ‘balancing’ approach to remedies under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation? Some initial observations on the ADNOC/Covestro commitments
The ADNOC / Covestro commitments suggest that the European Commission is willing to apply the Foreign Subsidies Regulation creatively to design remedies that ‘balance out’ rather than eliminate the negative effects of a distortive foreign subsidy where doing so will secure investment and advance the EU’s wider policy objectives.
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Bulls vs Monsters: The General Court rejects Red Bull’s appeal against the Commission’s dawn raid decision
On 15 October, the General Court (“GC”) rejected Red Bull’s appeal against the European Commission (“EC”) dawn raid decision, in a case triggered by an informal complaint from Red Bull’s competitor, Monster Energy. In summary, the GC found that: The judgment contains interesting takeaways regarding the reasoning of dawn raid decisions, the sufficiency of evidence…
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Private Equity and Common Ownership in Professional Rugby: Applying the Delivery Hero Standard
By Dr Beverley Williamson From time to time, the Thicket blog invites guest bloggers to write about a topic that is close to their heart. Geradin Partners is pleased to give the floor to friend of the blog Dr Bev Williamson who is an expert in the application of competition law in the sports industry.…
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Draconian but unavoidable? Illumina’s quest for GRAIL ends in a record fine
Sprint races can be decided by hundredths of a second. But the sprinter who pushes off before the starting gun sounds “jumps the gun” and faces harsh punishment. In our never-ending attempts to make competition law sound cool, practitioners refer to the completion of a deal before mandatory clearance is obtained as “gun jumping”, even…
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Three/O2 – EU merger control test clarified? (And lions in Regent’s Park)
“Formalistic”, “reductionist”, “selective and unbalanced or even deficient”. Advocate General Juliane Kokott did not mince her words in last week’s Opinion on the General Court’s judgment in CK Telecoms, in which she asks the Court of Justice to annul the judgment and refer the case back to the General Court. An AG Opinion is an…
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Misinformation, disparagement, opacity and throttling – how far does the ‘special responsibility’ go?
What links a multiple sclerosis drug ingredient, trains tickets in the South of England and iPhone batteries? Very little you might say? But in fact these subjects are all bound up in what some believe to be an ongoing extension to the frontiers on the law on abuse of dominance. Just how far does the…
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Illumina/Grail: An unholy war continues
The European Commission has blocked a merger that did not meet any European jurisdictional thresholds for the first time. In a case that has seen the Commission pushing at the boundaries of its remit, it has prohibited Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL. Article 22 EUMR The Illumina/GRAIL merger did not meet the thresholds under…
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Legitimately expected: Commission may review Illumina/GRAIL deal
Today the General Court handed down its hotly anticipated judgment in the Illumina/GRAIL merger, deciding that the European Commission has jurisdiction to review the merger. This judgment is hugely consequential, as it confirms that EU Member States have the power to refer mergers to the Commission even when those mergers do not meet the national…
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No-poach and wage-fixing agreements – Is antitrust game?
No-poach and wage-fixing agreements are somewhat of a new trend in antitrust enforcement. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) recently beat a challenge against its first criminal wage fixing case, involving wages for physical therapists. The DoJ has opened two further labour-related cases, also in healthcare. Meanwhile in the EU, the Commission has been vocal…
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The Amici Curiosi – And other developments in Illumina/GRAIL
In this post, we share the latest developments in the Illumina/GRAIL merger. This case involves the now completed acquisition by Illumina of GRAIL, a company that has developed a test, which has shown the ability to detect multiple cancers from a single blood draw. GRAIL was founded by Illumina but spun off in 2016. Illumina…