EU Commission Finally Enters The Ring On No-Poach Agreements

The €329 million fine imposed on Delivery Hero and Glovo is a wake-up call for businesses to review their labour hiring practices and avoid the risk of competition law infringement.

Antitrust enforcement in labour markets has been gaining momentum over the past decade, becoming a global phenomenon. The US antitrust enforcement agencies have led vigorous enforcement efforts against no-poach agreements concluded between companies competing in the labour market. This has sparked a wave of investigations by European national competition authorities across several business sectors, such as banking (Denmark 2008), real estate agencies (Lithuania 2022), and engineering, technology consulting and IT services (France 2023 and Portugal 2025). However, until last year, nothing had been heard from the EU Commission. In 2024, it published a policy brief stating that the economic harm stemming from labour market agreements such as wage-fixing and no-poach agreements should not be