The European Commission ("Commission") has announced that it is to close two preliminary investigations into Apple's business practices in relation to the iPhone.

The European Commission (the "Commission") decided earlier last week to approve part of a proposed merger between Veolia Transport ("Veolia") and Transdev, but has accepted referral requests by the national competition authorities in France and the Netherlands (the "NCAs") to allow them to examine the parts of the merger relating to the activities of the parties in France and the Netherlands, on the basis that they are the best placed authorities to do so.

On Monday BAA began its appeal in the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") against the UK Competition Commission's ("CC") order that it should sell three of its UK airports (following the CC's market investigation into BAA's airports).

On 13 January 2011 the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") released a consultation notice setting out the formal commitments offered by seven insurance companies and two IT software providers in response to the OFT's competition concerns in relation to the exchange of pricing information.

The OFT has published the final version of its revised guidance on market studies. The new guidance picks up on changes to the OFT's practice and replaces the original 2004 version (and follows a period of consultation which commenced in May 2009).

Recently the ECJ confirmed the decision of the European Commission ("Commission") of 20 April 2001 finding that Duales System Deutschland GmbH ("DSD"), the creator of the "Green Dot" (Der Grüne Punkt) trade mark, had restricted competition by abusing its dominant position in the market for organising the collection and recycling of sales packaging in Germany before 2001.

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A consortium of Europe's largest tyre-makers has successfully won an appeal in a complex jurisdictional battle.

In a recent written answer to a question posed by two MEPs, Joaquín Almunia, European Competition Commissioner, has stated that he has no plans to introduce sanctions for individuals in cases of competition law infringement at EU level.

According to EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, the EU state aid rules need to be streamlined and clarified in order that they can be applied in a systematic way.

On 11 March 2008, the European Commission imposed fines totalling €32.76 million on ten undertakings for having participated, over various periods between October 1984 and September 2003, in a cartel on the international removal services market in Belgium.

The European Commission ('Commission') has decided to close its preliminary investigation into the conduct of several major Hollywood film studios, including Paramount and 20th Century Fox.

On 14 April 2011, the General Court dismissed an appeal by Visa against the European Commission decision that Visa had breached Article 101 by refusing (without objective justification) to admit Morgan Stanley to membership of its card payment network between March 2000 and September 2006.

On 12 July 2011 EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding published a statement on the way forward for collective redress at EU level.

On 24 March 2011, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the 'CAT') handed down judgment on six further appeals against the level of fines imposed by the OFT on construction firms for engaging in cover pricing.

The OFT has referred the acquisition by Kerry Foods Limited of the frozen ready meals business of Headland Food Limited to the CC under the Enterprise Act 2002.

According to data disclosed under a Freedom of Information Act request, the Office of Fair Trading ('OFT') accepted every one of the 25 leniency applications it received in 2010 compared with only 13 of the 15 applications it received in 2009.

On 20 June 2011, the Office of Fair Trading ('OFT') announced that it was going to refer the anticipated acquisition by BATS Trading Limited of Chi-X Europe Limited to the Competition Commission ('CC') for further regulatory scrutiny in accordance with its powers under the Enterprise Act 2002.

On 8 April 2011 the Office of Fair Trading ('OFT') published the text of a request for the referral of the UK aspects of Aditya Birla Group's proposed acquisition of Columbian Chemicals Acquisition LLC to the European Commission ('Commission').

The Competition Commission ('CC') has provisionally cleared the completed acquisition by Sector Treasury Services Limited ('STS') of Butlers (a trading division of ICAP plc) which provides treasury management advisory ('TMA') services.