Antitrust & Trade Regulation

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A divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court and held that the 1996 amended catch-all provision of the Pennsylvania Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (CPL) imposes strict liability. Writing for the 4-3 majority, Justice David Wecht, based upon a professed review of the plain language of the statute, concluded the General Assembly’s addition of “or deceptive conduct” to the catch-all provision of the CPL dictated a lesser, more relaxed standard. Thus, the majority…
Bob Connolly   bob@reconnollylaw.com [I am aware that I post often about the desirability of criminal antitrust whistleblower incentives. The blog post below relates to an article I had published recently in Law 360.  Not everyone subscribes to Law 360, which I recommend, so I have excerpted a small portion in this blog post.] There are a number of reasons to expect  increased criminal antitrust enforcement in the new administration.  One reason may be the…
Becoming a theme of increasing concern, competition regimes from across the globe have started to take new measures to sanction natural persons. To address these latest developments, we have provided a global analysis of the issue in our latest client alert – click here to read the full piece. This update is the third in our series focusing on the significance of competition compliance, which previously discussed the importance of competition compliance programmes and discounts …
The EU and UK have very similar systems of competition law enforcement however Brexit has given the UK a degree of autonomy and the opportunity to apply its own rules and regulations independent of the European Commission.  We consider the likely practical impact of Brexit across three key areas of competition enforcement: investigations into violations of competition law; merger control; and state aid. Read more here…
Bob Connolly   bob@reconnollylaw.com    LinkedIn The ABA Antitrust Law Spring meeting will, unfortunately, be virtual again this year.  This is disappointing to me as I have gone every year for, well, a very long time. I enjoy seeing old friends, making new ones, and getting away for a few days to DC. But as I was looking through the meeting program, a silver lining jumped out to me–especially for students.  Because the meeting…
By Robert Connolly   bob@reconnollylaw.com  LinkedIn These are exciting times for someone (me) obsessed with the idea that there should be financial rewards available for individuals who blow the whistle on antitrust crimes.  Yesterday I submitted an article to a publication that will appear in the next day or two entitled, “When Fishing for Antitrust Cooperation, It’s Good to Have Bait.”  Today there are reports of new proposed legislation to be introduced by Senator…
Robert E. Connolly   bob@reconnollylaw.com  LinkedIn              On Dec. 23, 2020, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (the “Act”), finally became law.  The legislation had passed in the Senate several times previously but until this last  Congress, had never been brought up for a vote in the House.  Congratulations to Senators Grassley and Leahy for their persistent advocacy for this legislation. The Act prohibits employers from retaliating against certain individuals who report criminal antitrust violations. …