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ARTICLE · 02 JUNE 2015

FIFA And Selling Online

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Would an agreement amongst FIFA sponsors to terminate their sponsorship agreements be caught by the EU's antitrust rules and potentially be an unlawful collective boycott?

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
John Cassels
John Cassels

FIFA

Would an agreement amongst FIFA sponsors to terminate their sponsorship agreements be caught by the EU's antitrust rules and potentially be an unlawful collective boycott?  If and to the extent that any of the sponsoring companies are actual or potential competitors (in the market for sponsorship of major sporting events), then arguably it might be.  Whether or not it would be unlawful would likely depend upon whether acting collectively was indispensable to achieving the (presumably desirable) objective of regime change at FIFA.

Selling online

The European Commission's investigation into e-commerce will officially start next month, which means that formal requests for information will start to land in people's inboxes/in trays imminently.  Whether and how to respond to any such requests will depend upon the nature and focus of the request and your business activities.

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