Organisation: Directorate-General for Competition (EU)

The row between Brussels and Washington over green energy funding shows how even desirable subsidies can have undesirable effects. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development senior policy analyst Ruben Maximiano and competition expert Wouter Meester examine the role competition authorities have in tackling distortive subsidies through merger and antitrust enforcement.

12 May 2023

An advisor to the European Court of Justice has suggested the European Commission pay closer scrutiny to share purchase agreements after concluding the agency rightly punished Altice for failing to notify its acquisition of PT Portugal and for breaching EU standstill rules.

27 April 2023

The as-efficient competitor test should be treated as a benchmark rather than a definitive test because rivals that may not be “as efficient” as a dominant company can still sufficiently compete in a market, the European Commission’s chief competition economist has said.

17 April 2023

Competition enforcers must prevent dominant technology companies from acquiring disruptive technology arising from artificial intelligence, a senior official at the European Commission has said.

31 March 2023

The European Commission is set to publish new guidelines on its approach to exclusionary conduct cases, but has already updated an old policy paper that clarifies it does not need to rely on the as-efficient competitor test in certain matters.

27 March 2023

The European Commission plans to launch new investigations into apparently unfair tax deals between member states and powerful companies, despite recent court rulings going against the enforcer, Margrethe Vestager has said.

20 March 2023

An internal restructuring that fundamentally reorganised Amazon’s global business was solely intended to help the technology company avoid paying tax on certain profits, the European Commission has told the EU’s highest court.

16 March 2023

The European Commission’s predatory pricing decision against Qualcomm has created an “environment of legal uncertainty”, the chipmaker has argued in its appeal against a sanction that it claims is equivalent to those levied against hardcore cartels.

15 March 2023

Qualcomm “acted like a typical predator” and “attacked when it mattered” to shut-out competition from a rival chipmaker, the European Commission has said as it defends its €242 million predatory pricing fine on the company.

14 March 2023

Qualcomm has accused the European Commission of “chronic mismanagement and blatant procedural bias” in the predatory pricing investigation that led it to fine the chipmaker €242 million.

13 March 2023