The European Court of Human Rights ('ECHR') has been asked to rule on whether it is legal to hold a parent company liable for behaviour of a wholly owned subsidiary.

The German Competition Authority ("BKartA") has published a note detailing the effect which the recent changes to the Act against Restraints of Competition ("GWB") will have with respect to the need for merger control filings in property transactions.

The latest edition of Community Week is now available.

On 20 April 2010, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of four mobile phone operators, Telefónica O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange in an appeal brought against a judgment of the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT").

Details of an appeal to the General Court challenging a European Commission ('Commission') decision to reject a complaint have been published. The complaint relates to the rules of the Luxembourg football federation ('FLF').

On 20 December 2010 the European Commission announced that it had sent a statement of objections ('SO') to J&T Investment Advisers and Energetický a průmyslový alleging obstruction of an investigation into possible breaches of Articles 101 and/or 102 TFEU in the Czech wholesale electricity sector.

On 24 January 2011, the European Commission (the 'Commission') announced that it has opened formal proceedings to investigate whether agreements between the Spanish and Portuguese telecoms incumbents Telefónica SA and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (the 'Companies') infringe Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ('TFEU').

Areva and Alstom, two of the participants in the gas insulated switchgear cartel, have appealed the judgment of the General Court ('GC') dated 3 March 2011 on the fines levied upon them by the Commission in 2007.

On 10 January 2011, the European Commission (the "Commission") published its decision to grant conditional approval of the acquisition by Teva (an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Israel active in the development, production and marketing.

On 16 November 2010, the French Competition Authority (the 'Authority') issued a decision in its investigation on exclusivity clauses in the Pay TV sector.

On 4 March 2011, the Indian Government brought into force the provisions of the Competition Act 2002 (the 'Act') relating to the regulation of mergers.

On 15 November 2010, the Investigations Division of the Spanish Competition Authority ('CNC') received notification of a concentration by means of which, Manufacturas Tompla S.A. would acquire exclusive control over Maespa Manipulados, S.L., (case C/0299/10 Tompla/Maespa). The review of this merger is still pending.

On 2 March 2011 the Investigations Division of the CNC extended the formal investigations that it is undertaking in case S/0244/10 Navieras, commenced on 7 July 2010, to include Servicios y Concesiones Marítimas Ibicencas, S.A. ('Servicios').

On 1 March 2011, the Spanish Competition Authority ('CNC') Council resolved that the behaviour of Grafoplas del Noroeste, S.A. ('Grafoplas') in the course of an inspection carried out by the CNC's officials on 27 October 2010 at Grafoplas' premises in Culleredo (Coruña), constituted obstruction of an inspection.

After a preliminary confidential investigation, the Investigations Division of the CNC resolved on 13 January 2011 to open formal proceedings against the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias), the Higher Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España).

After a preliminary confidential investigation carried out on its own initiative, the Investigations Division of the CNC opened formal proceedings on 17 January 2011 against Telefónica Móviles de España, S.A.U., Vodafone España, S.A.U. and France Telecom España, S.A. (the "Operators") for a possible abuse of a dominant position, prohibited by article 2 of the Spanish Competition Act and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ('TFEU').

The CNC has recently opened disciplinary proceedings against three copyright collection agencies for possible anti-competitive conduct prohibited by Article 2 of the Spanish Competition Act 15/2007, and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The Spanish Parliament definitively approved the Sustainable Economy Act (the 'SEA') (Ley de Economía Sostenible) on 15 February 2011.

On 2 March, the OFT announced that it had made a fast-track reference to the Competition Commission ('CC') of the anticipated travel business joint venture between Thomas Cook, the Cooperative Group and the Midlands Co-operative Society.

The Office of Fair Trading ('OFT') has concluded that it has no grounds to take action against low cost airline Flybe over alleged predatory behaviour.