Intelligence

The EU General Court has upheld the European Commission's prohibition of Booking's acquisition of Etraveli, marking the first judicial endorsement of an "ecosystem" theory of harm in merger control. This landmark ruling validates the EC's use of reverse leveraging and entrenchment theories, establishing that dominant firms can be blocked from acquiring assets in adjacent markets even where they lack dominance in the target's market. The decision has far-reaching implications for digital platform acquisition

The European Commission has introduced comprehensive Guidelines on Article 102 TFEU addressing abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. These Guidelines establish a three-stage assessment framework covering market dominance determination, competitive distortion analysis, and objective justification examination. The framework provides detailed analytical approaches for various forms of exclusionary conduct including predatory pricing, margin squeeze, exclusive dealing, and self-preferencing, wh

On 3 September 2026, the European Commission adopted new Guidelines on the application of Article 102 TFEU to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. The Guidelines follow a public consultation on a draft published in August 2024 and reflect substantial stakeholder feedback.

The European Commission has issued Statements of Objections to construction chemicals manufacturers in France, Germany and Spain, along with three national trade associations, over suspected price coordination. The preliminary assessment suggests manufacturers coordinated future price increases for chemical additives and admixtures between 2021 and 2022 in response to rising raw material costs following the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine.

The European Commission has determined that Google violated the Digital Markets Act through anti-competitive practices in its Search and Play services. The investigation revealed systematic preferential treatment...

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that national competition authorities may seize business emails during dawn raids without prior court authorization, provided the seizures are legally grounded and strictly limited to the inspection's subject matter. While the decision grants authorities significant power, it establishes important safeguards, particularly for mixed-use devices containing both professional and private data, which may require prior judicial review before access is permitted