On March 21, 2025, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) conditionally cleared the acquisition of 98 former Casino food retail stores by Auchan.[1] The FCA decision is conditional on (i) the divestment of one supermarket, and (ii) sharing the sales area of one hypermarket with two competitors.
In the latest instalment of our Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy is joined by Marcus Bokkerink, Chair of the
On January 28, 2025, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice issued a much-awaited preliminary ruling that clarifies when national laws that prohibit the transfer of antitrust compensation claims to bring a collective action breach EU law.[1] The Court of Justice held that, to respect the principle of effectiveness, national procedural rules cannot limit recourse to such group actions where it is the only procedural way for individuals to bring a claim for compensation. While it is clear that the Court of Justice did not consider Member States are under an obligation to always allow for group action lawsuits, the implications for private enforcement are yet unclear. This will likely be the subject of additional litigation and preliminary rulings.
In the latest instalment of our Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy speaks with Cristina Caffarra, one of the leading
On February 26, 2025 the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal (“DCA”) dismissed a broad application of Germany’s transaction value threshold.[1] The threshold introduced in 2017 is a “safety net” for exceptional cases, not an additional standard aimed to lower the threshold for merger review. Companies in mature markets with established revenue streams face reduced risk of mandatory filings, even for high-value acquisitions.
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.
For more insights and analysis from Cleary lawyers on policy and regulatory developments from a legal perspective, visit What to
Several European competition authorities – including in France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden – can conduct general or sectoral market investigations. By closely reviewing sectors that are not perceived to be functioning well, authorities seek to understand market conditions and evaluate whether anticompetitive practices may be contributing to the perceived issues. Some authorities, such as the Austrian, Belgian, and Dutch, authorities, can merely make recommendations at the end of the investigation. Others, including in Denmark, Germany, and Italy, have the power to subsequently impose conditions to resolve the identified market failures despite the absence of competition infringements.
In the latest instalment of our Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy speaks with Lucia Bonova, one of the European
In 2024, the FSR’s first year in operation saw a large number of filings but limited enforcement, with only a handful of Phase 2 reviews, one conditional merger clearance and two ex officio cases. With the FSR now up and running, in 2025, we expect the EC’s focus to be on demonstrating the FSR’s value and delivering practical results by stepping up enforcement, building a corpus of reasoned decisions, and – it is hoped – developing a more streamlined process for non-issue cases.