European commission issues its first resale price maintenance decisions in over a decade fining four consumer electronics manufacturers for fixing online resale prices

Welcome to the First Edition of the Quarterly Newsletter of the Wolf Theiss Competition and Antitrust Practice Group.

On 13 January 2013, a substantial reform of Austria’s competition laws was published in the Austrian Federal Gazette.

The Austrian law (Cartel Act Sec 17) seems clear in that a merger needing notifica-tion may only be "implemented" after clearance, i.e. the Official Parties have waived their right to move for a full investigation ...

On 14 June 2016, a draft law amending the Austrian Federal Act against Unfair Competition 1984 and the Austrian Price Labelling Act was published for public consultation.

On 12 October 2011, the Vienna Higher Regional Court sitting as Cartel Court (the Cartel Court) referred a case on the right of access to a cartel file to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ).

Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 18 June 2013 on a preliminary reference, the Austrian Supreme Court decided on 2 December 2013 that incorrect or incomplete legal advice given by a lawyer concerning the application of Article 101 TFEU cannot be considered as a mitigating circumstance in the calculation of a fine for an infringement of EU competition law.

In an anonymised judgment of 27 June 2013, the Austrian Supreme Court increased from € 4,500 to € 100,000 a fine imposed by the Austrian Cartel Court on a company ("the defendant") for violating the prohibition to implement a concentration without prior notification to the Austrian Federal Competition Authority ("FCA").

<p>Before the existing Law on the Protection of Competition entered into force at the end of 2009, Serbian competition law had a serious flaw: the Competition Commission was unable to issue fines directly, but had to apply to the courts to impose fines on undertakings that had breached competition rules.

As we reported earlier, Epic Games launched antitrust litigation against Apple (and Google) in California.

If anyone needed a wakeup call as to how critical a functioning compliance system and culture is, look no further than the recent reports in the Austrian media about allegations of fraud launched against a surgeon working at one of Vienna's most renowned public-sector hospitals.

After the Austrian Federal Cartel Authority (FCA) had some busy years in doing ear-ly morning calls ("dawn raids") in various industries, including big retailers, parts of the building industry ...

The Energy Community entered into force in 2006. It aims to extend the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond, and enhance the overall security of supply.

On 26 November 2013, the Austrian Supreme Court upheld a decision of the national Cartel Court that had extended the scope of a search warrant given to the Austrian Federal Competition Authority.

A glance at the website of the Austrian Federal Competition Authority confirms that private equity investors do not always observe competition law. Sanctions for non-compliance with competition law range from fines to ineffectiveness of the complete transaction.

Austrian merger control continues to capture non-full-function joint ventures. Joint ventures covered by merger control are sheltered against parallel assessment under the Austrian rules against anticompetitive agreements (no dual control).

Despite recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the Austrian Supreme Court factually invalidating the Austrian prohibition in principle on offering B2C promotional bonuses, companies intending to use this marketing tool may still face obstacles.

On 6 April 2017, the Austrian Parliament adopted significant amendments to Austrian competition law, as set forth in the Austrian Cartel Act ("KartG") and the Act on the Austrian Federal...

The amendments to the Austrian Cartel Act introduce an additional notification threshold, which is based on value of a transaction.