ABSTRACT
The Directorate General for Competition at the European Commission enforces competition law in the areas of antitrust, merger control, and State aid. After providing a general presentation of the role of the Chief Competition Economist's team, this article surveys some of the main developments at the Directorate General for Competition over 2021/2022. In particular, the article reviews the new antitrust "Vertical Block Exemption Regulation" and "Vertical Guidelines", the new "Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection, and energy", and the Veolia/Suez merger.
ABSTRACT
The Directorate General for Competition at the European Commission enforces competition law in the areas of antitrust, merger control, and State aid. After providing a general presentation of the role of the Chief Competition Economist's team, this article surveys some of the main developments at the Directorate General for Competition over 2020/2021. In particular, the article discusses the Commission proposal on the Digital Markets Act, the developments on the State aid response related to the COVID pandemic as well as the Danfoss/Eaton merger.
ABSTRACT
The Directorate General for Competition at the European Commission enforces competition law in the areas of antitrust, merger control, and State aid. After providing a general presentation of the role of the Chief Competition Economist's team, this article surveys some of the main developments at the Directorate General for Competition over 2019/2020. In particular, the article reviews the economic analysis in the Qualcomm predation case, recent developments in the assessment of vertical mergers, as well as the new "Temporary Framework" that has been developed in the wake of the COVID pandemic.