Companies should brace themselves for the extra attention that their agreements with online distributors, in particular, are likely to get.

On 21 December 2012, the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven, "CBb"), the highest court for competition cases in the Netherlands, ruled that ex-employees have the right to remain silent when interviewed in relation to alleged infringements of competition law involving their former employer.

In 2008, the European Commission found that several undertakings, including ABB, had participated in a cartel in the gas-insulated switchgear market.

The ruling resulted from a civil claim for damages brought by the electricity company TenneT against the gas-insulated switchgear ("GIS") manufacturer ABB.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a dawn raid conducted by the Czech Competition Authority violated the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence, because it was not subject to prior judicial authorisation and there was no effective post-inspection court review in place.

In light of last year's preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice, the Council of State recently concluded that the current system for the grant or renewal of a licence for games of chance to a single operator without competitive tendering restricts the freedom to provide services as laid down in Article 56 TFEU.

A bill to enhance the deterrent effect of cartel fines by increasing the maximum fine that can be imposed for cartel infringements is afoot.

The Review seeks to provide both breadth of coverage and analytical depth to those practitioners who may find themselves on the front lines of a government inquiry or an internal investigation into suspect practices.

The Netherlands Competition Authority ("NMa") has imposed fines amounting to €20 million in total on Dutch media company Koninklijke Wegener N.V. and five of its executives.

The Dutch competition authority has closed an investigation into alleged resale price maintenance in the home furnishings sector. ACM began the investigation following indications that suppliers had imposed minimum prices on retailers.

The increasingly strict line taken by competition authorities in Austria, France, Germany and the UK has not compelled the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets to change its liberal approach towards vertical restraints.

By 17 February 2024, the Digital Services Act ("DSA") will automatically apply to all intermediary services.

Companies should not forget to include subsidiaries and joint ventures in their compliance programmes. This is important because parent companies are normally liable for cartel conduct by their subsidiaries and joint ventures.

The European Commission recently published draft commitments by a number of container liner shipping companies to refrain from making regular public announcements about future price increase intentions.

Leniency applicant Evonik recently managed to successfully block the publication of a more detailed version of an earlier cartel decision. Time will tell whether this success is a Pyrrhic victory.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its long-awaited preliminary ruling in Nissan Iberia.

Companies may soon be held responsible for anti-competitive actions by their external contractors.