EU Competition Enforcers Permit "Necessary And Temporary" Cooperation To Mitigate Disruption From Ukrainian Conflict

The European Competition Network ("ECN") issued a policy statement indicating that member agencies will not intervene in legitimate, cooperative efforts to address disruptions caused by the conflict in Ukraine and related sanctions. The ECN is a working group of competition authorities in Europe, including the European Commission, Member State national authorities, and the European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority. The ECN issued a similar statement at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to certain "hardcore" restrictions (e.g., price fixing), EU antitrust rules prohibit agreements among companies that have the net effect of reducing competition. Even in the best of times that standard can be difficult or time consuming to apply in practice, and companies often must make a risk/reward calculation about any practice that could harm competition.