Competition authorities in countries in development in Europe have a long way to go until they meet the EU standards. Although the local legislation in non-EU members is harmonized with EU ...legislation for the most part, the enforcement part is the one where obstacles are traditionally more challenging, and Serbia is no exception to this rule. Serbia has had its share of problems when trying to enforce rules on protection of competition, and some of those battles are still being fought, however, the national competition authority now also needs to face rapid changes that come with emerging markets, especially e-commerce. Although e-commerce itself may facilitate anticompetitive behaviors, it seems that they may also have had an effect of a much-needed nudge for the Serbian Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) to finally dive into variety of enforcement powers that they have been entrusted with.
In the recent Sped-Pro judgment, the General Court ruled that in order to guarantee effective judicial protection of the complainant, the Commission is obliged to examine the given national ...competition authority’s independence, and overall rule of law concerns, when it rejects complaints regarding Article 102 TFEU and concludes that such an authority is ‘best placed’ to hear the case. This contribution aims to discuss whether such obligation applies to case referrals from the Commission to Member States with respect of concentrations. On one hand, these are the same national competition authorities and the same standards should apply. On the other – the case referral system differs from the characteristics of the Articles 101–102 TFEU framework. Thus, this paper contains a discussion on the General Court’s judgment in Sped-Pro, the legal framework and practice regarding merger referrals, and, finally, the consequences of the judgment for the future approach of the Commission in the discussed matter.
Modern Polish competition law has become highly regulated and codified over the twenty five years of its existence and this article will provide readers with information relating to its recent ...developments of 2015. Separate subsections present a review of provisions on remedies in infringement decisions as well as settlements. A considerable part of this paper is designed to outline the peculiarities that characterize Poland’s new provisions on fines. Further on, the paper introduces readers to newest trends in the area of concentration control between undertakings. In addition, an assessment of recent developments and suggestions for a further development of Polish competition law are reviewed in the EU context. The conscious intention of the author is to analyse whether the EU competition law pattern, often regarded as a model for Member States, has been used to develop Polish competition law. Has the latter been amended to look more, or less like EU competition law? Has Polish competition law shown the capacity to absorb the best elements of EU competition law into itself? How is the outcome aligned with the declared direction of these amendments?
Modern Polish competition law has become highly regulated and codified over the twenty five years of its existence and this article will provide readers with information relating to its recent ...developments of 2015. Separate subsections present a review of provisions on remedies in infringement decisions as well as settlements. A considerable part of this paper is designed to outline the peculiarities that characterize Poland’s new provisions on fines. Further on, the paper introduces readers to newest trends in the area of concentration control between undertakings. In addition, an assessment of recent developments and suggestions for a further development of Polish competition law are reviewed in the EU context. The conscious intention of the author is to analyse whether the EU competition law pattern, often regarded as a model for Member States, has been used to develop Polish competition law. Has the latter been amended to look more, or less like EU competition law? Has Polish competition law shown the capacity to absorb the best elements of EU competition law into itself? How is the outcome aligned with the declared direction of these amendments?
The factually complicated and legally innovative development of the Grail by Illumina takeover case is now more than two years old and there is still no final denouement in sight. It is a case with ...significant implications for the future development of the application of EU competition law in the area of takeover control. In this case, the Commission has tested both its new approach to the use of Article 22 EUMR and the application of the harm theory of foreclosure of rivals from a market that is nascent and will reach its full potential only in the future. This text seeks to outline the complicated development of the case, the various aspects of which are now being dealt with in parallel before the Commission, the General Court, and the Court of Justice. In addition, it seeks to show which questions of the future EU merger control regime have already been answered, which remain to be answered and what are the limits of the search for answers.
Digital technologies are one of the most important factors driving the current EU to revise its competition rules, inter alia in an area as sensitive to corporate strategies as mergers and ...acquisitions. The European Commission and a number of independent experts have already identified several key problems that the online environment raises for the application of traditional merger control institutes. Among them the takeovers of promising start-ups, that have already attracted millions of users to their freely distributed application, by some of the major online world players. They are sometimes referred to as “killer acquisitions” and they could even not to come under the authority of the European Commission because the EU Merger Regulation turnover criteria are not achieved. Should other criteria be chosen, or would such take-overs rather be controlled ex-post and under the risk of a de-concentration being ordered? The Commission is coming up with the first outlines of an answer. Its search for a response to these merger control challenges should be closely monitored by corporate practice, as it will set future boundaries for corporate strategies in the markets of tomorrow. The paper tries to structure the main challenges and possible EU law answers to the issue to predict what undertakings must be ready for when contemplating their future strategies for European markets.
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