Petrobras agrees to sell eight oil refineries

To address concerns over Petrobras’s alleged monopoly power in the Brazilian oil refinery market, the state-controlled oil conglomerate has agreed to sell eight of its 13 refineries.

French public auditor wants better coordination between enforcers

France’s auditing court has praised the country’s two competition agencies overall, but said they take too long to adjudicate cases and issue fewer opinions today than they did a decade ago.

UK estate agent claims it inadvertently broke competition law

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has provisionally found that four estate agencies colluded to set minimum commission fees on residential property sales, but one of the accused has said it was unaware the agreement was illegal.

Walking the Talk: The Asia-Pacific Tipline for 14 June 2019

Our lead story this week focuses on the work by Japan's Fair Trade Commission. The Japanese competition authority tends to keep its investigations quiet until they are concluded, but we heard this week about its dawn raids on contact lens makers. The agency was more vocal about its advocacy work, as Commissioner Reiko Aoki and other senior officials demonstrated recently at the competition conference held by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. But even when there are slow weeks in Asia Pacific-antitrust enforcement, we can count on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to keep humming along.
Expedia and Booking.com accused of imposing “new type” of abusive price parity

An online travel agency has complained to the European Commission that rival platforms Expedia and Booking.com are illegally enforcing price parity clauses through abusive and discriminatory conduct.
ACCC raises concerns about agriculture deal

A merger between two of the largest retailers and wholesalers of agricultural products in Australia may hurt competition and lead to higher prices, the country’s antitrust watchdog has warned.

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GCR USA

Happy birthday vertical merger guidelines: The Tipline for 14 June 2019

The US antitrust agencies issued their vertical merger guidelines 35 years ago today. While the horizontal version has been formally revised six times since its inception, the non-horizontal guidelines from 1984 remain unchanged. Both agencies say they are working on an updated version, but some observers question if they will be able to reach a consensus. In other birthday news, President Donald Trump turns 73 and Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, the ranking Republican on the House of Representatives’ antitrust subcommittee, turns 76.

Eighth Circuit affirms FTC win against Sanford Health/Mid Dakota

A federal district court did not err in granting a preliminary injunction against the merger of two North Dakota health clinics, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled.

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Features

The UK's competition bar

As Brexit looms and UK competition lawyers guess at what the future holds, Tom Madge-Wyld looks at how London’s best antitrust practices fared in 2018. Brexit dominates most conversations about the future of the UK’s competition law market. Of all the practices we list in our survey, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is the best placed to benefit from the UK’s exit from the European Union, as it is the only firm with a truly market-leading competition team in London and in Brussels. That dual footprint means the firm is extremely well positioned for clients seeking advice in both jurisdictions, when the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority starts duplicating work previously handled solely by the European Commission.

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