Sophie Bertin

Firm/Organization: Covington & Burling LLP

Blogs: Cov Financial Services, Covington Competition, Global Policy Watch, Inside Privacy

Latest Articles

The GC’s rulings in Fiat and Starbucks : a green light with a warning

By Johan Ysewyn, Sophie Bertin & Geoffrey Kalantari

October 22, 2019

On 24 September 219, the General Court (“GC”) delivered its long awaited judgments on the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decisions finding that tax rulings granted to Starbucks and Fiat constituted State aid. The GC annulled the Commission’s decision on Starbucks but upheld the Commission’s decision on Fiat. The judgements confirm that State aid rules enable the Commission to review whether tax rulings endorsing transfer pricing arrangements are in line with the arm’s length principle. However,…

Covington Competition

An aid scheme or not? The GC annuls the Commission’s decision on Belgium’s system of excess profit tax rulings

By Johan Ysewyn, Sophie Bertin & Geoffrey Kalantari

March 5, 2019

On 14 February 2019, the General Court (“GC”) annulled the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision of 11 January 2016 declaring Belgium’s system of excess profit rulings as an aid scheme incompatible with the Internal Market. The Commission had ordered the Belgian authorities to recover around € 700 million from at least 35 companies that had benefited from the excess profit exemption through tax rulings. The GC considered that the excess profit exemption was not a “scheme”…

Covington Competition

Application of the private investor test in State aid cases: lessons from the EDF saga

By Sophie Bertin & Geoffrey Kalantari

February 7, 2019

On 13 December 2018, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) rejected an appeal by Electricité de France (“EDF”) against a General Court (“GC”) judgment confirming a Commission decision ordering France to recover EUR 1.37 billion in State aid from EDF (Case C-221/18 P EDF v Commission). The ECJ judgment confirms that the aid, which had been granted back in 1997, had to be recovered. The EDF saga provides several lessons on how the private…

Cov Financial Services

ESA Report Outlines Strategies on Facilitating Cross-Border EU Fintech Innovation

By Sophie Bertin & Jonathan Benjamin

January 14, 2019

In a joint report (the “Report”) published on 7 January 2019, the EU’s three financial industry watchdogs considered the need for potential strategies to help coordinate and promote innovation in the EU fintech space. The Report by the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”), European Banking Agency (“EBA”) and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (“EIOPA”) (together the European Supervisory Authorities or “ESA”) sets out (i) a comparative analysis of the role of innovation hubs…

Cov Financial Services

The ACM’s guidance to address competition law concerns for FinTech in the creation of technical standards

By Mike Nonaka, Sophie Bertin & Daniel Muheme

January 3, 2019

Introduction On December 3, 2018, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (“ACM”) published a speech from its board member, Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh, regarding potential competition law concerns in the financial technology (“FinTech”) sector. In particular, further to the European Parliament’s study on FinTech and competition law (the “Study”) – as discussed in a previous blog post – Hijmans van den Bergh voiced concerns regarding potential FinTech foreclosure, following the adoption of Technical…

Covington Competition

The ACM’s guidance to address competition law concerns for FinTech in the creation of technical standards

By Mike Nonaka, Sophie Bertin & Daniel Muheme

January 3, 2019

Inside Privacy

The CNIL Publishes Report On Blockchain and the GDPR

By Dan Cooper, Gemma Nash & Sophie Bertin

November 14, 2018

On November 6, 2018, the French data protection authority (the “CNIL”) published a report that discusses some of the questions raised by the use of blockchain technology and perceived tensions between it and foundational principles found in the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). As we noted in an earlier blog post on this topic, some pundits have claimed that certain features of blockchain technology, such as its reliance upon a de-centralised network and an…

Global Policy Watch

The European Commission finds no illegal State aid was provided by Luxembourg’s non-taxation of McDonald’s

By Johan Ysewyn, Sophie Bertin, Daniel Muheme & Jonathan Benjamin

October 23, 2018

On 19 September 2018, the European Commission (“Commission”) issued a press release declaring that Luxembourg did not provide illegal State aid to McDonald’s with regards to two tax rulings that resulted in double non-taxation of franchise profits in Luxembourg. The Commission’s three-year-long in-depth investigation established that Luxembourg had merely acted in compliance with its national tax laws and that the double non-taxation was the result of a mismatch between Luxembourg and US tax law, as…

Covington Competition

The European Commission finds no illegal State aid was provided by Luxembourg’s non-taxation of McDonald’s

By Johan Ysewyn, Sophie Bertin, Daniel Muheme & Jonathan Benjamin

October 22, 2018

Covington Competition

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority gives guidance on future priorities, FinTech and Brexit

By Sophie Bertin, Kevin Coates & Siobhan L.M. Kahmann

September 10, 2018

The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has published its third Annual Competition Report which focusses on its proposals for promoting competition and innovation, particularly with respect to the impact of FinTech on UK financial services. It also addresses the FCA’s ongoing role in supporting the UK Government prepare for Brexit, and uphold an orderly transition as part of the withdrawal process – avoiding any cliff edges – for UK financial markets.…

Sophie Bertin

The GC’s rulings in Fiat and Starbucks : a green light with a warning

An aid scheme or not? The GC annuls the Commission’s decision on Belgium’s system of excess profit tax rulings

Application of the private investor test in State aid cases: lessons from the EDF saga

ESA Report Outlines Strategies on Facilitating Cross-Border EU Fintech Innovation

The ACM’s guidance to address competition law concerns for FinTech in the creation of technical standards

The ACM’s guidance to address competition law concerns for FinTech in the creation of technical standards

The CNIL Publishes Report On Blockchain and the GDPR

The European Commission finds no illegal State aid was provided by Luxembourg’s non-taxation of McDonald’s

The European Commission finds no illegal State aid was provided by Luxembourg’s non-taxation of McDonald’s

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority gives guidance on future priorities, FinTech and Brexit

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