On July 14, 2020, the European Commission adopted its 33rd cartel settlement decision: an unusual one involving a purchasing cartel, in the ethylene merchant market.  Four companies were found liable for having colluded for over 5 years to drive down the prices in monthly ethylene merchant bidding markets.  Westlake was the first to apply to the Commission and received immunity from fines (which would have been about Euro 190M). The other three were fined in…

On June 22, 2020 the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (Antitrust Division) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that they had signed an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow for more cooperation and communication between the two agencies. Read more at our Investigations and Enforcement Blog. …

On June 9, 2020, the UK Competition Markets Authority (CMA) served an initial enforcement order under section 72(2) of the Enterprise Act 2002 on Facebook in relation to their completed acquisition of Giphy. The CMA has explained in a statement that the proposed investigation would explore whether the acquisition might result in “a substantial lessening of competition in any market or markets in the UK.” The UK merger system is a voluntary one, even where…

Last year, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced that it was creating a Procurement Collusion Strike Force  (Strike Force) to focus on bid-rigging in public procurement noting that this area was “particularly vulnerable to collusion.”  The creation of the Strike Force followed the Antitrust Division’s recent focus on anticompetitive conduct in government contracting.…

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division recently issued a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) to Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS), an oncology center in Florida. FCS admitted to allocating medical and radiation oncology treatments provided to cancer patients in Southwest Florida. In addition, FCS had to pay a $100 million monetary penalty, the statutory maximum. This resolution raises two key issues the DOJ Antitrust Division has been focusing on over the last few years:…

The General Court has annulled the European Commission’s decision of May 11, 2016, in which it blocked the proposed acquisition of Telefonica UK (O2) by Hutchison 3G UK (Three). The General Court found that the Commission failed to prove that the merged company would harm competition or raise prices and that it had made several errors of law and assessment in its review. While the ruling will be welcomed by the telecoms industry that continues…

On June 2, 2020, the European Commission opened a public consultation to seek views on the contents of the Digital Services Act (DSA), an ambitious legislative package intended to regulate digital markets in EU. The European Commission will be seeking feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on issues like online safety, freedom of expression, fairness, and a level playing field in the digital economy. Part of the proposed legislative package also includes a proposal…