The forthcoming issue of the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice will be dedicated to the memory of Professor Heike Schweitzer. We will publish, posthumously, her very last paper, co-authored with Simon de Ridder and already available, in Open Access, here. Those among you who are familiar with Heike’s work will immediately recognise her characteristic style. The article is an impressive tour d’horizon that cuts across all issues pertaining to the application of Article 102 TFEU, ranging from the procedural and institutional to the substantive. It reflects her usual concern wit ..read more

Global Competition Review will be hosting the 2024 edition of its Law Leaders Europe conference in Brussels on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 July. Pablo and Director General Olivier Guersent will be the keynote speakers, and I will be co-chairing the conference together with Ethel Fonseca (RBB), Andrea Gomes da Silva (Fingleton) and Thomas Janssens (Freshfields). Over two days, the conference will cover pretty much all significant recent (and expected) developments in the competition law field. The full, and pretty impressive, list of speakers is available here. The program and all other relevan ..read more

Yesterday’s post addressed the way in which the Servier saga (see in particular Case C‑176/19 P and Case C‑151/19 P) refined and clarified the interpretation of what amounts to a ‘by object’ infringement. The saga also sheds light on the analytical framework that applies to the assessment of anticompetitive effects under Article 101(1) TFEU (the ‘by effect’ stage, if one prefers). First, the judgments (in particular the one in Case C‑151/19 P) confirm that the divide between actual and potential effects refers to the temporal dimension of the analysis. In other w ..read more

Last Thursday, the Court of Justice delivered its judgments in the Servier saga (see in particular Case C‑176/19 P and Case C‑151/19 P). These rulings will become an inescapable reference when discussing the notion of restriction of competition. They confirm some trends in the case law, refine some aspects thereof and provide a clear analytical framework. First, the core test to evaluate whether an agreement restricts competition by object remains unchanged relative to Generics. Accordingly, it is necessary for an authority or claimant to identify the explanation for, or rationale b ..read more

Many of you have approached us in the past few months asking whether we had considered launching a podcast. Since it is a great idea, we thought we would give it a tentative go. Alfonso will be coming over to LSE Law School on 27st June (Thursday of next week). We will be starting the live podcast at 16.00 London time/17.00 Brussels time. The recording will be made available later. Make sure you save the date! For this first live podcast, we will build our discussion around a forthcoming paper of mine, which deals with the notion of restriction by object (entitled ‘Restrictions by object unde ..read more

Last week, the Commission announced that it has fined Mondelez for engaging in a series of practices aimed at restricting intra-EU trade. There is nothing new or special about Mondelez’s conduct. The decision comprises bread-and-butter cross-border limitations (which have always been sanctioned as restrictive by their very nature under Article 101 TFEU) and unilateral conduct with the very same object. The latter included the refusal to sale a product to a broker and the decision to cease supplies. Both have been found to amount to an abuse of a dominant position. The above does not mean that ..read more

AG Szpunar Opinion in FIFA v BZ was delivered yesterday. The opinion is remarkable, from the perspective of an EU competition lawyer for several reasons. It stands out, first, because of how categorical the Advocate General is when interpeting the law. It is unusual that, in the context of a preliminary reference, an Opinion states unambiguously that a practice amounts to a restriction of competition by object and that, in addition, it does not meet the conditions set out in Article 101(3) TFEU. In principle, it is for the referring court (which has all the necessary information) to apply EU ..read more

In am delighted to announce that the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia will host an event around The New EU Competition Law on 28th May (the reception will start at around 3.30pm and the event as such, at 4.30pm). You can register for it here. Presenting the book in my hometown, and at the competition authority, will be a highlight of the book tour. I am really grateful to the staff at the CNMC for making it happen. I am also grateful to the speakers who have managed to make some time for the occasion: Cani Fernández, President of the CNMC, will deliver the opening address at ..read more

The Journal of European Competition Law & Practice (of which I am the Joint General Editor with Gianni De Stefano) is proud to announce that it will be publishing, later this year, a Special Issue devoted to EU merger control (and the changes it is undergoing). Major developments are taking place on every front, from the jurisdictional to the substantive. We would be delighted to consider proposals on any major topic, including, but not limited to, the following: Market definition, and the impact of the recent Commission notice on the field. The application of Article 102 TFEU ..read more

Super Bock was one of the major developments of the past year. It is not immediately obvious to draw this conclusion. On its face, the judgment is brief and an Advocate General Opinion was not even deemed necessary. The substance of the ruling is not any more auspicious: the Court does little more than reiterate the consistent line of case law since Cartes Bancaires (and subsequently refined, inter alia, in cases like Maxima Latvija, Generics and Budapest Bank). Alas, the significance of Super Bock has to do precisely with the fact that the Court held, unceremoniously, that resale price maint ..read more