As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger control guidelines,[1] we
When the Rubber Hits the (Digital) Road: Developments Regarding the Digital Markets Act Since March 2024
Since the obligations under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) started to apply to the first wave of gatekeepers in March 2024, there have been a number of important developments on the implementation and enforcement of the DMA by the Commission.[1] In particular, the Commission has: (i) adopted a second wave of designation decisions concerning Apple and Booking Holdings Inc. (“BHI”), while exempting other services of Apple, ByteDance, X Holdings Corp., and Microsoft; (ii) defended appeals before the European courts concerning a number of its designation and non-designation decisions; (iii) launched whistleblower tools for the DMA and the Digital Services Act (“DSA”); and (iv) opened non-compliance investigations against Meta, Alphabet, and Apple as well as specification proceedings into Apple’s compliance with DMA interoperability obligations.
Altice Defends its Appeal of the General Court’s Decision to Uphold Record Gun-Jumping Fine in a Hearing before the Court of Justice
On February 1, 2023, the Court of Justice held a hearing in Altice’s appeal against the General Court’s decision in 2021 to largely uphold the Commission’s record fine for gun-jumping in the Altice/PT Portugal transaction.[1] Altice’s defense at the hearing hinged on three claims: (i) the Commission wrongly fined Altice twice for failure to notify and for breaching the standstill obligation; (ii) Altice did not acquire veto rights, and therefore control, by signing the Share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”); and (iii) the Commission breached the principle of proportionality by failing to explain its reasoning in setting the fines.