European Union

On July 12, 2022, the Commission fined metal packaging producers Crown and Silgan €31.5m for breaching Article 101 TFEU by exchanging sensitive information and coordinating their commercial strategies for the sale of metal cans and closures in Germany over a three-year period.[1] The products concerned were metal lids for glass jars, coated with lacquers containing bisphenol A (“BPA”) or BPA-free lacquers and metal cans coated with BPA-free lacquers. These products were predominantly used to package foods, such as vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish.

On July 7, 2022, Advocate General Rantos delivered his Opinion in Lietuvos geležinkeliai v Commission, Lithuanian Railways’ appeal against a General Court judgment partially upholding a decision by the Commission finding that it had infringed Article 102 TFEU by removing 19 km of train tracks.[1] The Commission concluded that this conduct prevented a major customer from switching to Latvian Railways’ rival transportation services.

Introduction

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently published a Discussion Paper and accompanying Evidence Review on “Online Choice Architecture” (OCA). This provides a helpful overview of the CMA’s approach to analysing choice architecture, recognising that some practices are likely to be harmful to consumers but others may be beneficial.

The UK Government’s response to its consultations on ‘Reforming competition and consumer policy’ (April 2022) confirmed the Government’s proposals to give the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) enhanced consumer law enforcement powers.

On June 30, 2022, the European Commission (“EC”) launched a public consultation seeking feedback on the performance of Regulation 1/2003[1] and Regulation 773/2004[2] (the “Regulations”), which govern the enforcement procedure of EU antitrust law.[3]  Interested parties are invited to provide comments by October 6, 2022.

Background

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and telecoms regulator (Ofcom) recently published a joint paper setting out their advice to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on new rules for digital platforms’ use of publishers’ content.

In her second term as EU Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager’s focus to date has been on securing approval for the…

On June 20, 2022, the Commission opened a formal investigation into Vifor Pharma for the possible anticompetitive disparagement of a rival’s iron medicine.[1] Although the Commission launched a disparagement investigation last year,[2] this is the first time that it opens an investigation based exclusively on a disparagement theory of harm, and in relation to two originator products at that.[3]