DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA Burger King South Africa sale back on the table after revised conditions agreed upon New draft guidelines on small merger notification The Tribunal clears Coca-Cola of merger condition breach South African government encourages permitted collaboration to minimise impact of social unrest and strengthen the South African economy Constitutional Court rules on … Read more

The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has published new guidelines on its leniency programme and on the setting of fines in cartel proceedings. Unfortunately, both guidelines are so far available only in German. The previous guidelines date from 2006 and 2013 respectively. The FCO has now revised the guidelines in order to adapt them to … Read more

In its judgment of 6 October 2021, following a reference by the Provincial Court of Barcelona, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) held that a victim of anti-competitive conduct is entitled to seek damages from the subsidiary (not referred to in the infringement decision) of an infringing parent company, provided both companies form … Read more

In advance of the next edition of Cartel Intel, our quarterly update on key EMEA cartel developments, Daniel Vowden (Partner, Brussels) had the great privilege of discussing important recent EU legal developments with Bo Vesterdorf, formerly a judge at and the President of the EU General Court (and more recently a senior consultant with Herbert … Read more

Last week the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf overturned a decision adopted by the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) clearing a JV between Telekom Deutschland and EWE, a regional utility company. The JV partners were looking to cooperate in the development of fibre-optic networks in parts of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bremen. This is … Read more

On 10 September 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published a competition policy brief in which it provides more detail on its policy approach in its upcoming sustainability guidance. Following a call for contributions last year and a conference bringing together relevant stakeholders in February 2021, the policy brief summarises the feedback received and outlines the … Read more

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has proposed radical changes to the way mergers are regulated in Australia recommending the introduction of a mandatory and suspensory merger review process with limited merits review by the Australian Competition Tribunal. We have three key takeaways: compared to the current process, parties will be required to meet … Read more

On 18 August 2021 the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) approved the first application for a collective proceedings order (CPO) under the UK’s competition class action regime introduced in 2015, in Walter Hugh Merricks CBE v Mastercard Incorporated and Others.  The application was initially turned down by the CAT in 2017 but was remitted to it … Read more