The December 2020 issue of Ashurst's competition law newsletter features some of the key competition law developments over the last month, including national security regime developments in the UK and Spain, the European Commission's latest pay-for-delay pharma fines, the UK investigation into most favoured nation clauses used by comparison sites, further consumer law enforcement in Australia, as well as other news.
Contents
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competition law newsletter | eu
Dec 2020 Commission fines Teva and Cephalon €60.5 million for pay-for-delay
On 26 November 2020, the European Commission announced that it had fined the pharmaceutical companies Teva and Cephalon €60.5 million for agreeing to delay for several years the market entry of a cheaper generic version of Cephalon's drug for sleep disorders.
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competition law newsletter | EU
Dec 2020 EU State aid rules pass fitness check but will need some adaptations
On 30 October 2020, the European Commission published a Staff Working Document summarising the results of the evaluation of EU State aid rules.
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competition law newsletter | australia
Dec 2020 Home security provider to refund customers and remove unfair terms
On 4 November 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Tyco Australia Group Pty Ltd, to refund consumers who were incorrectly invoiced.
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competition law newsletter | australia
Dec 2020 Full Federal Court confirms Trivago misled hotel comparison site consumers
Trivago N. V. has been unsuccessful in its appeal against a Federal Court of Australia decision which found that Trivago had made false or misleading representations about hotel room rates, in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.
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competition law newsletter | france
Dec 2020 French dental surgeons fined for collective boycott
On 12 November 2020, the French competition authority fined the National Council of the College of Dental Surgeons, five departmental councils of the College and two trade unions for collectively boycotting dental care networks.
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competition law newsletter | italy
Dec 2020 COREPLA fined preventing new plastic waste management system
On 27 October 2020 the Italian Competition Authority issued a EUR 27 million fine to the Italian Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Recovery of Plastic Packaging (COREPLA) .
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competition law newsletter | spain
Dec 2020 New restrictions on Foreign Direct Investments in Spain
On 17 November 2020, the Spanish Government enacted new amendments by which, from 19 November 2020 to 30 June 2021, investments made by EU/EFTA investors will also be subject to the Spanish FDI Regime when certain conditions are met.
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competition law newsletter | uK
Dec 2020 CAT dismisses Facebook application and confirms CMA's wide interim order powers
In a unanimous judgment, the Competition Appeal Tribunal dismissed Facebook's application challenging the CMA's refusal to grant certain derogations from an initial enforcement order imposed in connection with Facebook's completed acquisition of GIPHY, Inc.
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competition law newsletter | uk
Dec 2020 ComparetheMarket fined for restricting insurers pricing cheaply elsewhere
On 19 November 2020, the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced that it had issued an infringement decision finding that the price comparison website ComparetheMarket infringed Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101 TFEU as a result of the use of wide most favoured nation clauses in contracts with home insurance providers.
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competition law newsletter | UK
Dec 2020 CAT puts the boot in CMA merger decision
On 13 November 2020, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal published its judgement in relation to the merger of JD Sports and Footasylum.
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competition law newsletter | uk
Dec 2020 CMA blocks and orders divestment of completed investment platform software merger
On 6 November 2020, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ordered FNZ to sell GBST, having concluded that the acquisition raised significant competition concerns in the supply of software and services which enable retail investment platforms in the UK.
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competition law newsletter | UK
Dec 2020 Bound by settlement - truck cartelists' appeal on preliminary issue dismissed
On 11 November 2020, the Court of Appeal emphatically dismissed an appeal brought by five truck manufacturers against a judgment of the Competition Appeal Tribunal handed down in March 2020.
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competition law newsletter | uk
Dec 2020 CMA publishes first state of UK competition report
On 30 November 2020, the UK Competition and Markets Authority published its first state of competition report, commissioned by the UK government.
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