On 20 July 2021 the UK government launched a consultation on a wide range of far-reaching changes it is proposing to the UK competition and consumer protection regimes. As a result of Brexit the UK is now in a position to decide, independently from the EU Commission, how it promotes and enforces competition law affecting … Read more

On 20 July 2021, the UK Government announced the commencement date of the substantive provisions of the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “Act“), and published new guidance for business on the requirements of the Act, new Draft Notifiable Acquisition Regulations, and a new consultation draft of the Section 3 Statement (also known as … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has launched a new Malaysia blog, which you can find at https://hsfnotes.com/malaysia/.   Read more

Members of the HSF Brussels competition team have written their annual chapter as a contribution to the latest edition of the highly-regarded Global Competition Review (GCR) EMEA Antitrust Review, which provides a comprehensive summary of key recent EU merger control developments. The chapter covers key jurisdictional, procedural and substantive developments in EU merger control from … Read more

On 9 July 2021, following a comprehensive consultation process, the EU Commission (Commission) published its proposals for a revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (Draft VBER) and Draft Vertical Guidelines, due to replace the current regime which expires on 31 May 2022. The previous evaluation steps (see here for more detail) identified a number of areas … Read more

On 30 June 2021, the UK Government published its much-awaited Subsidy Control Bill.  In this update, we explore the key aspects of the proposed UK subsidy control regime.  We conclude with five key takeaways. Overview of the UK regime The Subsidy Control Bill establishes a UK subsidy control regime, in accordance with the UK’s obligations … Read more

DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA Competition commission initiates a market inquiry into the online intermediation platform market Competition commission publishes final guidelines for competition in the South African automotive market The commission is consulting stakeholders in respect of proposed codes of conduct in the food supply chain The CCSA finalises it’s inquiry into the land based … Read more

On 22 June 2021 the European Commission (“Commission”) revealed that it had carried out surprise inspections at the German premises of a company active in the clothing sector, suspected of infringing competition rules.  This was the first unannounced inspection, or “dawn raid”, conducted by the Commission since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck Europe in March … Read more