Clothing brand racks up fine for online restrictions

The European Commission has fined clothing company Guess €39.8 million for online sales and advertising restrictions, but it reduced the overall fine by 50% after the company admitted breaching competition rules.

Foundations laid for concrete cartel fine

Two UK-based concrete drain manufacturers have admitted fixing prices and sharing markets, while the UK’s competition authority has also accused a third company of participating in the same cartel.

EU fine in pipeline for Bulgarian gas incumbent

The European Commission has fined Bulgaria’s state-owned gas supplier €77 million for restricting access to the country’s gas infrastructure network.

Chile appoints new competition head

Chile’s government has named former private practice lawyer and academic Ricardo Riesco as the head of the country’s competition agency.
Court sides with Sainsbury’s/Asda over merger review timetable

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has agreed with Sainsbury’s and Asda that the national competition authority imposed too early a deadline for them to respond to working papers during the review of their proposed merger.
DG Comp chief economist: use structural presumptions on “super dominant” companies

Structural presumptions could help competition authorities assess mergers by “super dominant” companies, the European Commission’s chief competition economist has suggested.

More News

GCR USA

DOJ and FTC senior officials see potential problems with nascent competitor deals

The Federal Trade Commission’s competition director and the Department of Justice’s second-highest ranking antitrust official have criticised studies finding more concentrated markets, but also acknowledged that incumbents’ acquisitions of small rivals can harm competition.

FTC needs to study markets more, Chopra and advisor say

The Federal Trade Commission should return to requiring companies to disclose more data that is not part of a specific enforcement action, commissioner Rohit Chopra and one of his attorney advisors have separately said.

More GCR USA

Features

The antitrust damages directive: four years on

Today marks four years since the EU antitrust damages directive was signed into law. After years of discussion, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union intended Directive 2014/104 to make it easier for businesses and consumers to claim compensation for overcharges caused by infringements of competition law.

More Features