European Union

On October 15, 2026, the Advocate General’s opinion was delivered in ByteDance’s appeal to the Court of Justice against the General Court’s 2024 judgment upholding the Commission’s decision to designate it as a gatekeeper under the DMA for its TikTok core platform service. This is the first DMA case to reach the Court of Justice. The Advocate General’s opinion is meant to guide the Court’s decision-making but is not binding. The judgment is expected at a later date.

On September 9, in a landmark judgment, the General Court upheld the Commission’s 2023 decision prohibiting Booking’s acquisition of eTraveli. The ruling has far-reaching implications for acquisitions by dominant firms in markets characterized by network effects and allegedly high entry barriers. The Court held that the Commission may rely on novel theories of harm to challenge mergers that consolidate or perpetuate pre-merger competitive conditions, reinforce network effects, and allow an already-dominant company to create an “ecosystem” that rivals cannot replicate, even if that merger involves only a de minimis improvement in the dominant firm’s pre-existing offering or market position.

On July 14, 2026, the European Commission published its report reviewing the Foreign Subsidies Regulation’s (FSR) first three years of operation.[1] The Commission found the regime “fit for purpose” and an “effective tool” to tackle distortions from foreign subsidies in the EU single market. However, it also recognized broad concerns about the regime’s efficiency and the disproportionate cost of compliance.