On 9 July 2018, the Economic Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (the “EP”) published a study identifying potential competition law concerns in the financial technology (“FinTech”) sector (the “Study”).… Continue Reading
The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has just released a 75-page Green Paper on Modernising Consumer Markets, setting out the Government’s main priorities for the digital economy in a post-Brexit Britain. The Green Paper reflects on the current state of consumer markets and regulation, and lays down the key challenges and … Continue Reading
The Regional Court in Hamburg rejected complaints by newspapers Zeit Online and Handelsblatt seeking to have Eyeo GmbH prohibited from selling its AdBlock Plus software. The ruling establishes the important principle that ad-blocking is legal, however there are other cases pending against AdBlock Plus in Germany that suggest that there may be more to come … Continue Reading
On 20 April 2015 the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (“ACM”) published new guidance regarding its enforcement priorities in relation to distribution agreements, noting that its enforcement efforts will be focused on agreements having the most significant impact on consumer welfare. The 28-page document explains that before opening an investigation, the ACM will first … Continue Reading
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced today during a speech at the Bundeskartellamt (German Competition Authority) International Conference on Competition her intention to launch a sector inquiry in the e-commerce sector. The sector inquiry will be formally proposed to the Commission in May. Preliminary findings on the sector inquiry could be ready in mid-2016. Commissioner Vestager … Continue Reading
On 26 November 2013, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) announced that it ended the probe into Amazon’s price parity policy (the “Policy”). The Policy required that the price of an item offered by a retailer on Amazon’s online marketplace platform, Amazon Marketplace, should not be higher than the retailer’s lowest offer for that item … Continue Reading
In February 2013, the German competition authority (Bundeskartellamt) launched a survey into Amazon.de’s price parity policy for its Marketplace platform. (See our previous post.) This policy requires that the price of each product that a retailer offers on Amazon.de should not be higher than the retailer’s lowest offer for that product through any other online … Continue Reading
The French Competition Authority (FCA) is currently investigating the mobile app market. In the context of the publication of the 2012 Annual Report, FCA’s President Bruno Lasserre revealed that the authority is concerned about the current structure of the mobile app market, which operates in “silos”, i.e., ecosystems built on a smartphone/tablet OS (e.g., Apple … Continue Reading
by Miranda Cole and Christos Malamataris On 20 March, the European Commission published its decision settling the Reuters Instrument Codes (“RICs”) Case. The Commission’s investigation focused on whether the restrictions imposed by Thomson Reuters (previously Reuters) on the licensing of RICs amounted to the abuse of a dominant position (in breach of Article 102 TFEU) … Continue Reading
On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) approved the proposed merger of cellular service providers T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS. In its written opinion and order, the FCC’s Wireless Bureau concluded that the proposed merger would benefit competition in the wireless market by, among other things, providing the combined company with greater spectrum resources for its … Continue Reading
The EU E-books antitrust probe is quasi-closed: the EU Commission announced yesterday that it accepted and made legally binding the commitments offered by Apple and four publishers to settle the investigation that was opened in December last year. The Commission was investigating whether the publishers may have colluded, with Apple’s facilitation, to jointly switch from … Continue Reading
E-book pricing is under antitrust review on both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against two publishers and Apple on 11 April 2012 in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, while settling with three other publishers (the settlement was approved by the court on 6 September 2012). On … Continue Reading
