Jon Polanec

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On January 9, 2026, the European Commission published long-awaited guidelines on its enforcement of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) (the “Guidelines”).[1] In addition to delineating the FSR’s jurisdictional scope, the Guidelines clarify three key concepts: (1) when a foreign subsidy distorts competition; (2) how a distortion’s negative and positive effects are balanced against each other (the “Balancing Test”); and (3) when the Commission may use its so-called “call-in powers” to request the prior notification of transactions and public bids that fall below the mandatory FSR thresholds.

As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger control guidelines,[1] we submitted our observations on Topic Paper G – Public Policy, Security, and Labour Market Considerations.

On July 13, 2023, the Court of Justice delivered its much anticipated judgment in Commission v. CK Telecoms,[1] setting aside the General Court’s landmark judgment that annulled the Commission’s 2016 prohibition of the proposed 4-to-3 merger between Telefónica Europe Plc (“O2”) and Hutchinson 3G UK Investments Limited (“Three”), the second and fourth largest mobile network operators in the UK, that would have created a new market leader with a combined share above 40%.[2]