Competition Flashback Q1 2024: Ontwikkelingen Mededingingsrecht

Algorithms and AI are rapidly reshaping how companies set prices and compete, but they are also attracting intensified antitrust scrutiny.

On 9 december 2025, the European Commission announced that it has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Google has breached EU competition rules...

The Netherlands is poised to grant its competition authority unprecedented power to scrutinize mergers that fall below traditional notification thresholds, targeting potentially harmful transactions such as roll-up strategies and killer acquisitions. While the Dutch House of Representatives has approved the bill despite criticism from the Council of State, the legislation introduces an asymmetric threshold system and raises standard notification requirements, fundamentally reshaping the country's merger con

On Sept. 11, 2025, the European Commission published a draft for consultation of the revised Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER)1 and updated Technology Transfer Guidelines (Guidelines).

The Dutch House of Representatives has adopted a private member's bill introducing call-in powers for the Dutch competition authority ACM, enabling review of below-threshold transactions while simultaneously raising mandatory notification thresholds. This reform shifts Dutch merger control from a purely threshold-based system toward a discretionary, risk-based regime that could significantly impact dealmakers pursuing roll-up strategies, buy-and-build models, or acquisitions in concentrated markets.

The Dutch House of Representatives has approved legislation granting the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets unprecedented power to review and potentially block mergers and acquisitions that fall below existing turnover thresholds. This reform addresses concerns about "killer acquisitions" and strategic buy-and-build strategies that may escape traditional merger control scrutiny...

On April 16, 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its preliminary ruling in the joined cases Electricity & Water Authority of the Government of Bahrain and Others (Power Cables, C-672/23)...

The District Court of Rotterdam overturned the fines on Pilkington and Scheuten for their participation in a double glazing cartel.

On 28 May 2026, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) fined Bouwhuis, Timmerhuis and Van Gelder, three companies active in the civil engineering and infrastructure sector...