On July 3, 2024, Judge Ada Brown of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted the motions for a preliminary injunction—filed by Ryan LLC and several trade associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—to prevent the FTC’s rule banning non-compete clauses from going into effect, but the court’s order only applies to the named plaintiffs (i.e., it is not a nationwide injunction). The court has indicated that it will issue a final order on the merits by August 30, 2024, just a few days before the FTC’s rule is scheduled to go into effect on Septe ..read more

On July 9, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted 4-1 (with Commissioner Melissa Holyoak dissenting) to release an Interim Staff Report (the “Interim Report”) entitled: Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies. The Interim Report describes what FTC staff has uncovered to date during a two-year investigation of the country’s six largest pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”). The agency claims that vertical integration and market consolidation have allowed a few PBMs to exert power over drugs and consumer prices as well as ..read more

This year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is set to gain a range of new enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCC”) Act (the final text is now available here). The DMCC Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024. However, with certain exceptions, the Act’s provisions will not come into force until secondary legislation is passed. The CMA initially expected its new responsibilities to become operational in the Autumn, but this timeline may be delayed due to the UK’s election on 4 July. On the same day as the DMCC Act became law, the CMA pub ..read more

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCC”) Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 (the final text is now available here). The DMCC Act will only enter into force, however, when secondary commencement legislation has been enacted (with some minor exceptions). This is expected to occur in Autumn 2024, but it could be delayed due to the General Election taking place on 4 July. This secondary legislation could also stagger the dates on which separate provisions become effective. This legislation ushers in a new rulebook for the largest digital firms active in the UK, alongside some ..read more

In line with its previous decision-making practice (see our previous sustainability blog posts here and here), on 8 May 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) declared the implementation of a new European industry standard for reusable pot plant trays compatible with competition law. Since 2021, companies and associations from the European Green Sector had been working together to develop criteria for the design and handling of reusable plant trays and to develop a standardised industry solution – the reusable Euro Plant Tray – to reduce plastic waste. Today, more than 95% o ..read more

Last summer, the antitrust agencies proposed sweeping changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act premerger notification form and associated rules. Covered in detail here, the proposed changes would significantly increase the time, burden, and costs on merging parties to prepare an HSR filing. The public comment period ended on September 27, 2023. Since then, the agencies have given little indication what changes would be made in response to the comments or when the proposed rules would be finalized. Yesterday, DOJ antitrust officials provided updates on both fronts during the American Bar As ..read more

On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission jointly filed a Statement of Interest on behalf of the United States in the case of Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, 1:23-CV-02536 (D.N.J. Mar. 28, 2024).  In the Statement, the agencies express their disagreement with two legal arguments asserted by the Cornish-Adebiyi defendants in their motion to dismiss.  First, the agencies argue that, although communications between competitors “can be highly probative of an agreement,” there is “no rule requiring proof of such communications” in order t ..read more

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”), which creates a new clearance mechanism for non-EU subsidies granted to companies engaging in certain activities in the EU, took effect on 12 July 2023, with notification obligations starting on 12 October 2023. On 22 February 2024 the European Commission’s (“Commission”) Directorate General for Competition (“DG COMP”) published a Policy Brief discussing the 100 days since the start of the notification obligation for concentrations. This post provides an update to our previous blog post on FSR enforcement expectations for 2024, taking ..read more

2023 saw a number of developments concerning the interplay between sustainability considerations and competition policy. This blog post highlights the five key developments that businesses need to know when collaborating to achieve sustainable aims. Key takeaways Authorities in the EU and UK resisted calls for introducing a sustainability safe harbour and adopted guidelines based on a case-by-case examination of sustainability agreements. However, sustainability agreements concerning agri-food and environmental damage may benefit from “soft(er)” safe harbours in certain jurisdictions. A combi ..read more

The European Commission (the “Commission”) issued a White Paper on Outbound Investments (the “White Paper”) on 24 January 2024, setting out non-binding proposals for a detailed analysis of EU outbound investment. With its initiative, the Commission aims to understand whether the current limited regulation in the area of outbound investments is allowing leakage of strategic technologies and leading to potential risks to security. The conclusions of any review would inform possible EU policy responses, including whether to adopt EU-level rules regarding the screening of outbound investment to th ..read more