Top Legal Issues Facing Automotive Suppliers In 2014 - Antitrust

Executive Summary

Recent U.S. and European antitrust developments will have important implications for suppliers in the motor vehicle industry. U.S. antitrust developments include, in particular, 1) the April 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision on class action standards; 2) the ongoing and expanding criminal antitrust investigation of the auto parts industry; and 3) challenges to mergers (large and small, non-reportable) underscoring continued tough and aggressive enforcement of the merger laws. There have been important developments affecting automotive suppliers in the international sector as well, for example: 1) European legislation that would facilitate collective redress of damages through class actions; 2) the availability in the European Union of the so-called "failing company" defense to otherwise potentially anticompetitive mergers; and 3) Europe's intensifying fight to eradicate cartel activity, like in the United States.