On January 30, 2020, The European Commission fined a group of companies belonging to the Comcast Group, including NBCUniversal, €14.327 million for illegally restricting sales of film merchandise products in Europe. The fine already includes a 30% reduction that was awarded for NBCUniversal cooperating with the European Commission beyond what is required by law.
Continue Reading Sale Restrictions in the European Union Attract Large Fines
UK Competition Law Enforcement Post-Brexit: Choppy Waters Ahead
CMA Brexit Draft Guidance
On 28 January 2019 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) issued draft guidance on the effects of any no-deal Brexit on the CMA’s functions and its enforcement approach. This guidance has been made more urgent by the continuing UK political divisions that have plagued the Brexit process and which could see the UK crash out of the EU without any deal in place on 29 March 2019.Continue Reading UK Competition Law Enforcement Post-Brexit: Choppy Waters Ahead
New Year’s resolution for EU antitrust compliance teams: “Putting HR practices on my radar screen”
interIn this briefing, we describe how certain employment practices, such as no-poach or wage-fixing agreements, may infringe competition law, a topic that has recently taken centre stage in the US and is also firmly, although more discretely, on the radar of antitrust authorities in Europe, but perhaps not yet on that of companies. Here is why it should be.
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House of Lords Report on Brexit and Competition: What Does it Mean for Businesses?
Following an inquiry in July 2017, the House of Lords’ European Union Committee published on February 2, 2018, a report titled – ‘Brexit: competition and State aid’ – on the future of the UK’s competition law regime after Brexit.
The House of Lords report provides a detailed account of the most pressing issues that the UK’s competition law regime is facing ahead of Brexit. It also shows the high levels of uncertainty that businesses operating between the EU and the UK face.
This uncertainty suggests that businesses should – at least for now – adopt a cautious approach, for example, when formulating their distribution and acquisition strategies in the UK.
Whatever the statutory changes to the UK’s competition law regime after Brexit are, EU law will still remain an important factor to consider when taking business decisions, especially because of the geographical proximity and close trading relationships between the UK and the EU. This means that going forward businesses need to have guidance.
Steptoe has years of experience in successfully advising businesses on their strategic decisions in the EU and the UK. Our experienced lawyers can help your business to successfully navigate the demands and potential opportunities of Brexit.
Continue Reading House of Lords Report on Brexit and Competition: What Does it Mean for Businesses?
Join our Webinar on Criminal Enforcement Against Employee No-Poaching Agreements
Please join Steptoe’s Antitrust Team on Wednesday, November 1, for an in depth discussion of criminal antitrust enforcement against employee no-poaching agreements. As detailed in our earlier blog post, on September 12, two high-level officials of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division confirmed the Trump Administration’s continued enforcement efforts against agreements
Finally Solved: Non Full-Function Joint Ventures Are not Subject to EU Merger Control
Do you need to notify a change from sole to joint control over an existing undertaking when the newly created joint venture is not full-function?
This question has been the subject of much debate with the European Commission’s case teams and has poisoned the life of companies and merger control practitioners for over a decade.
Trump DOJ Confirms Criminal Enforcement against Employee No-Poaching and Wage-Fixing Agreements
On September 12, Andrew Finch, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust in the U.S. Department of Justice, confirmed the Trump Administration’s commitment to the criminalization of agreements among companies not to “poach” each other’s employees and agreements on employees’ wages, policies advanced significantly during the Obama Administration.
Continue Reading Trump DOJ Confirms Criminal Enforcement against Employee No-Poaching and Wage-Fixing Agreements
EU Court of Justice Delivers Landmark Judgment in the Intel Case
The European Court of Justice (CoJ) just came back to business with a bang. On September 6, 2017, it delivered its long-awaited judgment in the Intel case. The CoJ refers the case back to the General Court (GC), with the instruction to review the economic arguments put forward by Intel in its defense against the
Joint Steptoe / Iwata Godo Antitrust Seminar in Tokyo (September 15, 2017)
On September 15, 2019, Steptoe and Japanese law firm Iwata Godo conducted a joint antitrust seminar in Tokyo addressing the international management of antitrust risks for Japanese companies.
The speakers (Pat Linehan from Steptoe and Akira Matsuda and Takaki Sato from Iwata Godo) provided the audience with an overview of recent enforcement trends in