Competition & antitrust
August 2019 | SPECIAL REPORT: COMPETITION & ANTITRUST
Financier Worldwide Magazine
August 2019 Issue
One critical element of today’s business landscape is paying attention to antitrust and competition issues – an especially acute concern given the increasing prevalence of cross-border components in transactions and the greater vigilance of antitrust regulators. Competition/antitrust, is a highly dynamic legal area. In markets where demand is high, the temptation to cartelise may be high – but the focus on international enforcement is stronger than ever. The global antirust landscape is changing, thanks in no small part to the political changes that have taken place, not to mention constantly shifting global economic dynamics.
Q&A: Effective use of expert witnesses in competition disputes
FW moderates a discussion on the effective use of expert witnesses in competition disputes between Miguel de la Mano, Thilo Klein, Frédéric Palomino and David Sevy at Compass Lexecon.
Why all businesses need an effective competition law compliance programme
Ashurst LLP Regulators around the world are becoming increasingly active in their enforcement of competition law. Around 150 countries have competition laws and no business, regardless of size and industry sector, is safe from regulatory scrutiny. Large businesses continue...
Canadian Competition Bureau actively investigating below-threshold mergers
McCarthy Tétrault LLP Once merging parties conclude that their transaction is not reportable to competition authorities, they often assume that competition law considerations have been dispensed with and focus on other deal points. However, just because a transaction falls below...
Merger control: the road ahead
K&L Gates EU commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager delivered a speech entitled ‘Merger control: the road ahead’ in Brussels on 18 June 2019. As she will reach the end of her five-year mandate on 31 October 2019, it is a good time to evaluate how the competition...
Digital markets: recent competition law developments in the EU
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates In recent years, the debate over antitrust enforcement in digital markets has intensified. Hefty fines levied on Google by the European Commission (EC) and multiple European probes into ‘big tech’ companies, including Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple...
Gun-jumping: the growing firepower of EU and UK merger authorities
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP On 11 February 2019, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) upheld the first ever ‘gun-jumping’ fine imposed by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The £100,000 fine was found by the CAT to be “appropriate” in light of the “utmost importance...
An overview of the Belgian Competition Authority’s activity
CMS Law 2018 marked the 25th anniversary of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA). On that occasion, the BCA took stock of its activity and priorities for the future. Its findings and conclusions were recently published, on 17 June 2019, in its 2018 annual report...
Putting the ‘aid’ in dawn raid: a lesson in first response
Arnold & Porter In the midst of your morning coffee, reading your financial broadsheet of choice, you receive an alarming call from reception; officials from the European Commission (EC) have arrived at the office announcing a dawn raid. In the search for anti-competitive agreements...
How to deal with data while complying with antitrust law
Clifford Chance Data has been described as the new asset class of today’s economy. Companies increasingly collect, analyse and report vast volumes of data. This increasing collection of data and the ability to produce insights from it has important consequences in the field of competition compliance...
Funding private enforcement actions
Shepherd and Wedderburn The general trajectory of an increasing number of ever higher fines against cartelists is now being matched with an increased vigour on the part of claimants who have suffered losses to bring damages claims seeking recompense. The UK remains one of the...
CONTRIBUTORS
Arnold & Porter
Ashurst LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Clifford Chance
CMS Law
Compass Lexecon
K&L Gates
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Shepherd and Wedderburn
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates