Amid the economic shocks caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
crisis, many industries are facing reduced demand for their
products and services. Other industries—notably healthcare
and food—are adjusting rapidly to expanding demand
requirements and changing consumption patterns due to large-scale
population confinement in several countries. Significant over- or
under-capacity can create incentives, or even the necessity, to
collaborate in ways that may push the limits of antitrust and
competition rules.
On 23 March 2020, the European Competition Network (ECN) took
unprecedented action. ECN, the network of competition enforcement
authorities in the European Union, issued a joint statement announcing that its members
will not actively intervene against "necessary and
temporary" measures, including cooperation among competitors,
in order to avoid a "shortage of supply." At the same
time, the ECN cautioned that its members would actively intervene
against any measures
