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On October 2, 2024, the General Court dismissed Crown’s and Silgan’s respective appeals[1] against a 2022 Commission decision imposing a total fine of €31.5 million for participating in a cartel concerning the sales of metal cans and closures in Germany between 2011 and 2014.[2]  The judgments serve as a reminder of the General Court’s tendency to defer to the Commission’s cartel enforcement practice, including on the conditions for accepting case referrals from national competition authorities, particularly in cases that were initially settled by the applicants. 

In this episode of Cleary Gottlieb’s Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy is joined by a panel featuring Jackie Holland, Cleary partner and former Senior Director of the UK Office of Fair Trading; Ricardo Zimbrón, former Director of Mergers at the Competition & Markets Authority and currently a partner at Cleary; Alexander Baker, CEO, Fingleton; and John Gray, Partner, FGS Global, to discuss the implications of the new Labour Government for competition enforcement and practice in the UK. Their conversation covers an array of topics, including the new government’s growth agenda, the role of politics in antitrust enforcement, merger control, consumer protection, digital regulation, and much more.

On July 29, 2024, the Court of Justice issued its preliminary ruling in case C-298/22 Banco BPN v. BIC Português and others.[1]  The Court confirmed that a “standalone” exchange of information between competitors – meaning that the information exchange in question constitutes the examined conduct in itself and is not ancillary to any other conduct – can be deemed a restriction of competition by object under Article 101 TFEU.  This ruling is important because it clarifies that information exchange can constitute a restriction by object, even if it is not linked to a wider anti-competitive practice and no actual market impact has been shown.[2]

On May 3, 2024, the French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control[1] (“DGCCRF”) published its 2023 annual report (the “Report”).[2]  The Report highlights the DGCCRF’s importance in cartel and other anti-competitive behavior detection in France, as well as its new roles, including taking part in the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”).[3]

On 21 May 2024, the UK Government published updated guidance on the application of the National Security and Investment Act (NSIA).  This includes:

The explosion in the development of generative AI has been referred to as an “Oppenheimer” moment.  Just last week, a group of more than 350 executives and scientists jointly stated that “[m]itigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”  And more than 1,000 tech leaders have called for a moratorium on AI development until regulations governing its safe use are devised. 

On 10 November 2022, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued a preliminary ruling[1] on the interpretation of the disclosure obligation under the EU directive that harmonised national rules governing actions for damages for breaches of competition law in EU member states and the UK (the Damages Directive).[2]