On 23 April 2024, Vicky Robertson discussed the use of computational antitrust tools in the public enforcement of competition law at the 16th Speyerer Kartellrechtsforum. You can read about the research conducted in the framework of the DataComp project here. The post Computational Antitrust for Public Enforcement appeared first on The Competition Law Hub ..read more

On 18 April 2024, the European Commission hosted a celebratory conference on the 20th anniversary of the EU Merger Regulation. Vicky Robertson was invited to speak about the future of merger control, including her work on digital mergers at national level (see her 2022 Report here), ecosystem theories of harm, market definition, remedies, and the issue of democracy in the digital sphere. The panel was moderated by Aiofe White (Politico). Hans Zenger (European Commission) and Jenine Hulsmann (Weil, Gotshal & Manges) were fellow panelists. The panel was preceded by a foreword by Annemiek Wil ..read more

On 5 April 2024, Vicky Robertson participated in the 40th CLaSF workshop, held at the University of Málaga. She presented her joint paper (with Klaudia Majcher) on the use of strategic foresight in EU competition law with the aim of supporting the twin transition. You can access the working paper here. The post Antitrust, Strategic Foresight and the Twin Transition appeared first on The Competition Law Hub ..read more

With the Digital Markets Act (DMA) having come into full force on 7 March 2024, many were eager to see how this new regulatory tool would change the landscape of digital regulation. Its first test came the day before its full implementation, when Apple decided to delete the iOS developer account of Epic Games’ Swedish subsidiary. In a recent post by the University of Glasgow’s Centre for the Regulation of the Creative Economy (CREATe ), Fabian Ziermann contributed to a discussion on the Apple-Epic saga and the DMA. It can be accessed here. The post The Apple-Epic Saga and the DMA app ..read more

On 14 and 15 March 2024, the Institute for Business Law of WU Vienna hosted its annual seminar, this year in Waidhofen/Ybbs. Fabian Ziermann talked about his recent research on the European Super League preliminary ruling and its implications for EU competition law. Vicky Robertson presented her research on digital mergers and updating theories of harms ..read more

The third edition of the legal materials Kodex Competition Law brings together all relevant legal materials of competition law in one handy book and can be used by practitioners, academics and students. For the new edition, Vicky Robertson compiled all major updates, including the new Market Definition Notice (2024), the new Horizontal Co-operation Guidelines (2023), the new US Merger Guidelines (2023) and the Digital Markets Act (2022). Updates to the block exemption regulations are included as well. Published by LexisNexis, you can obtain your copy here. Pictured with Vicky Robertson is Judi ..read more

At the University of Oxford’s Symposium on “Competition Law in Service of Democracy”, held on 7 March 2024, Vicky Robertson and Ariel Ezrachi presented their working paper entitled “Can Competition Law Save Democracy? Reflections on Democracy’s Tech-Driven Decline and How to Stop It”. The paper will soon be made available on SSRN. The post Can Competition Law Save Democracy? appeared first on The Competition Law Hub ..read more

On 29 February 2024, Vicky Robertson participated in the European Commission’s Let’s talk competition series on the new Market Definition Notice. With her on the panel were Guillaume Loriot (DG COMP) and Aleksandra Boutin (Positive Competition), while Natalie McNelis (MLex) moderated. They discussed what’s new in the Notice, including its pledge to value sustainability, how the Commission will delineate digital platform markets and ecosystems based on the new framework set out in the Notice, and how early innovation efforts can be taken into account for market definition. You can rewatch the e ..read more

In February 2024, the European Commission published its revised Market Definition Notice. For the first time, this new instrument contains important guidance on how to delineate digital platform markets and ecosystems. It also leaves some important questions unanswered, however. On 18 March 2024, Competition Law in Conversation discusses the digital elements in the new Notice with Thomas Büttner (European Commission), who was involved in the drafting of the revised Notice, and Magali Eben (University of Glasgow), who has widely published on digital market definition. The session is moderated b ..read more

In her new chapter (see SSRN here) forthcoming in the ‘Research Handbook on Competition and Technology’ edited by Pier Luigi Parcu, Maria Alessandra Rossi and Marco Botta (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024), Klaudia Majcher discusses the interactions between EU competition law and data protection in digital markets. The chapter focuses on two areas of competition law, namely abuse of a dominant position and merger control, and explores how to make them more coherent with data protection. Parts of the chapter are based on Klaudia’s new book on the same topic. The post Interactions between EU Competi ..read more