Industries

On 18 March, the CMA published new Merger Assessment Guidelines (the New Guidelines). Under the New Guidelines, the CMA will adopt a more flexible approach to the substantive assessment of mergers, particularly in digital markets. The New Guidelines also suggest the CMA will look to intervene in mergers where market shares are low or where the evidence of anticompetitive effects is slim.

On March 17, 2021, the French Competition Authority (hereinafter, the “FCA”)[1] rejected the request for interim measures of various players in the online advertising industry concerning the introduction by Apple Inc. (“Apple”) of the App Tracking Transparency (“ATT”) feature as part of the upcoming changes in its iOS 14 operating system.

On March 16, 2021, the Commission announced the opening of a formal investigation into Public Power Corporation (“PPC”), the largest wholesale and retail electricity supplier in Greece, and majority-owned by the Greek State, for allegedly abusing its dominance in the Greek wholesale electricity sector through predatory pricing strategies arising from its bidding behavior.[1]

On March 15, 2021, the Council of State delivered a non-final judgment (the “New Judgment”) dismissing in part, on procedural grounds, the applications brought by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and Roche S.p.A. (“Roche”), as well as Novartis Farma S.p.A. and Novartis AG (“Novartis”; jointly, the “Parties”), for the revocation of a 2019 judgment of the same court (the “2019 Judgment”).[1] By the 2019 Judgment, the Council of State upheld the ruling of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (the “TAR Lazio”) as well as the 2014 ICA decision fining the Parties for their participation in an alleged cartel (as described below; the “ICA Decision”).[2]

On March 9, 2021, the French Conseil d’Etat ruled that the employee representative body of the target company could appeal the FCA’s decision to clear the transaction. However, the Conseil d’Etat dismissed the appeal on the merits.[1]

On 5 March 2021, the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by truck manufacturers in Paccar Inc. and others v Road Haulage Association and others against the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)’s preliminary ruling of 18 October 2019. The preliminary ruling concerned the funding arrangements of two related applications by UK Trucks Claim Ltd and the Road Haulage Association for collective proceeding orders on behalf of trucks purchasers. 

On March 4, 2021, the Commission launched a formal in-depth investigation into Teva’s patent filings conduct related to its blockbuster multiple sclerosis medicine, Copaxone.[1] This is reportedly the first time that the Commission investigates potential abuses relating to divisional patents filing strategies.[2] This announcement, together with the recent formation, on March 16, 2021, of a multilateral working group on pharmaceutical mergers with leading competition authorities, confirms the Commission’s continued interest in the pharmaceutical sector.[3]