Van Bael & Bellis (Brussels)

Andreas Reindl

Van Bael & Bellis (Brussels)
Partner

Andreas Reindl is a Partner at Van Bael & Bellis, based in Brussels. He is a highly experienced competition lawyer who has worked on a wide variety of competition law matters for nearly thirty years. A member of Van Bael & Bellis’ exceptional EU and UK competition team, Andreas has worked with international clients in the digital, energy, transport, financial and other sectors, advising on the full range of EU competition law issues. Andreas has worked on several high-profile merger investigations initiated by the European Commission and national competition authorities. Notable cases include Halliburton/BHI, where he advised Halliburton in the EU merger control filing and review of its proposed $34.6 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes; London Stock Exchange/Deutsche Börse; and Boeing’s proposed merger with Embraer. Andreas has represented several clients in antitrust investigations by the European Commission and national competition authorities, concerning both abuse of dominance and restrictive practices cases. In addition, he has broad experience advising clients on online distribution, pricing strategies, patents & licensing, and collaboration agreements. He works with several well-known brands and is currently involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the Google/Android case. Andreas receives high praise from clients for being ‘highly attentive’ and able to ‘quickly grasp the main issue, even when limited information is provided’ (Legal 500). Andreas also serves as a senior editor of the ABA Antitrust Committee’s Antitrust Law Journal. He previously served as Director of the Fordham Competition Law Institute at Fordham Law School, New York, and as a Principal Administrator at the OECD’s Competition Division. Prior to joining the OECD, Andreas worked for several years for a major international law firm in Brussels and Washington, DC, practising both EU competition law and US antitrust law.

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Van Bael & Bellis (Brussels)
Van Bael & Bellis
Van Bael & Bellis (Brussels)
Van Bael & Bellis (Brussels)
Van Bael & Bellis (Brussels)

Articles

12121 Bulletin

Andreas Reindl, Catherine Gordley, Niharika Parshurampuria The EU Court of Justice reverses a ruling of the General Court and confirms that requisite burden of proof in merger cases is the balance of probabilities, as opposed to the strong probability standard proposed by the General Court (Telefónica / Hutchison 3G)

84

On 13 July 2023, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its judgment in Case C-376/20 P Commission v CK Telecoms UK Investments regarding the legal standard and burden of proof in so-called “gap cases”. These are cases in which a transaction – typically involving smaller players in (...)

Andreas Reindl, Giovanni Pregno, Niharika Parshurampuria The Italian Council of State upholds the fine imposed by the Competition Authority on an FMCG company for entering into unlawful exclusivity agreements with retailers (Unilever Italia)

51

On 11 July 2023, the Italian Supreme Administrative Court (“Court”) upheld the fine imposed by the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) on Unilever for entering into unlawful exclusivity agreements with retailers, thus confirming the ICA’s highly restrictive view on the relevance and (...)

Andreas Reindl, Niharika Parshurampuria The EU Court of Justice confirms that National Competition Authorities may consider violations of data protection laws as part of their abuse of dominance assessments (Meta)

904

On 4 July 2023, the Court of Justice (“CJEU”) handed down its highly anticipated judgment in Case C-252/21 Meta v Bundeskartellamt on the interplay between EU competition law and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). The CJEU held that competition authorities can analyse a (...)

Niharika Parshurampuria, Laura Lehoczky-Deckers, Katharina Bongs, Andreas Reindl The German Competition Authority orders the incumbent rail operator to make its real-time traffic data available to rivals (Deutsche Bahn)

91

On 26 June 2023, the German FCO ordered the state-owned German rail incumbent Deutsche Bahn (“DB”) to cease the abuse of its dominant position in relation to mobility platforms and ordered DB (along with other measures) to make DB’s real time traffic data available to rival mobility platforms. (...)

Valérie Lefever, Andreas Reindl The Brussels Market Court of Appeal rejects a food retailer’s request to annul the approval of a merger between two rivals (Carrefour / Mestdagh / Intermarché)

54

On 14 June 2023, the Markets Court of the Brussels Court of Appeal (Marktenhof / Cour des marchés – the Markets Court) dismissed the appeal of retailer Carrefour against the decision of the Belgian Competition Authority (Belgische Mededingingsautoriteit / Autorité belge de la Concurrence – the (...)

Andrzej Kmiecik, Andreas Reindl, Michael Clancy, Richard Burton, Charlotte Nassogne The EU Commission adopts its new horizontals package comprising revised Block Exemption Regulations on Research and Development Agreements and Specialisation Agreements and Horizontal Guidelines with new purchasing agreements

100

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted the final version of its new horizontals package, comprising revised Block Exemption Regulations on Research and Development Agreements and Specialisation Agreements and revised Guidelines on horizontal cooperation agreements (...)

Stephanie Reinart, Richard Burton, Andrzej Kmiecik, Michael Clancy, Charlotte Nassogne, Andreas Reindl, Steve Ross The EU Commission adopts new rules on horizontal agreements governing cooperation between competitors with the view to aiding sustainability efforts

74

In June 2023, the Commission adopted new rules on horizontal agreements, which as from 1 July 2023 replace the existing rules that date from 2010/2011. These rules govern the compatibility with EU competition law – specifically Art. 101 TFEU – of certain types of agreements and forms of (...)

Andrzej Kmiecik, Andreas Reindl, Michael Clancy, Richard Burton, Charlotte Nassogne The EU Commission adopts new Horizontal Guidelines which expands the distinction between buyer cartels and joint purchasing agreements

58

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted the final version of its new horizontals package, comprising revised Block Exemption Regulations on Research and Development Agreements and Specialisation Agreements and revised Guidelines on horizontal cooperation agreements (...)

Andrzej Kmiecik, Andreas Reindl, Michael Clancy, Richard Burton, Charlotte Nassogne The EU Commission adopts new Block Exemption Regulations and Horizontal Guidelines which include many new considerations on unilateral announcements and signalling, restriction of competition by object and hub-and-spoke infringements

59

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted the final version of its new horizontals package, comprising revised Block Exemption Regulations on Research and Development Agreements and Specialisation Agreements and revised Guidelines on horizontal cooperation agreements (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU General Court dismisses an application to annul the Commission’s declaration of a concentration to be compatible with the common market due to the applicant’s lack of locus standi (enercity / E.ON / RWE)

53

On 17 May 2023, the General Court dismissed an application for annulment brought against a European Commission (“Commission”) decision declaring a concentration to be compatible with the common market due to the applicant’s lack of standing (Case T-321/20, enercity v Commission). The judgment (...)

Valérie Lefever, Giovanni Pregno, Andreas Reindl, Elisa Binci The French Competition Authority imposes interim measures by ordering a social media giant to define new objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria to access its data (Meta)

86

On 4 May 2023, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) imposed interim measures on Meta Platforms Inc., Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. and Facebook France (“Meta”), to remedy the harm likely caused to the independent advertising verification sector and to the complainant Adloox SAS (“Adloox”) by (...)

Giovanni Pregno, Andreas Reindl The Italian Competition Authority imposes interim measures against a Big Tech company in the ongoing investigation concerning an alleged abuse of economic dependence in digital markets (SIAE / Meta)

62

On 20 April 2023, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) imposed interim measures on Meta and ordered Meta to negotiate in good faith with the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (“SIAE”), alleging that SIAE was economically dependent on Meta and that Meta, by terminating negotiations (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU Court of Justice confirms that the EU Commission can exclude a Member State from the territorial scope of a formal antitrust investigation without violating the principle of protection against parallel antitrust proceedings (Amazon)

90

On 20 April 2023, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down a judgment which confirmed that the European Commission (“Commission”) can carve out the market of a Member State from the scope of an investigation and allow the Member State authority to investigate the same conduct for its (...)

Niharika Parshurampuria, Giovanni Pregno, Andreas Reindl, Michele Buonanno The Italian Competition Authority accepts the commitments offered by the national rail incumbent over its proposed grant of data access to a rival high-speed rail services provider for the purposes of selling combined tickets (Trenitalia / NTV)

147

On 18 April 2023, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) accepted commitments offered by the Italian national rail incumbent, Trenitalia S.p.A. (“Trenitalia”), whereby Trenitalia will grant Italo – Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (“NTV”), its competitor in high-speed rail transport services, (...)

Andreas Reindl, Giovanni Pregno, Margot Vogels The EU Commission announces an initiative acknowledging the effects-based approach in abuse of dominance cases while retracting from a consumer welfare-based economic effects analysis

163

On 27 March 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) launched a new legislative and policy initiative which aims to replace the Commission’s 2008 guidance on its enforcement priorities in Article 102 cases involving allegedly exclusionary conduct (the “2008 Guidance Paper”) with formal (...)

Giovanni Pregno, Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU Commission announces Guidelines on exclusionary abuses which acknowledge the central role of an effects-based approach in abuse of dominance cases

155

On 27 March 2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) launched a new legislative and policy initiative which aims to replace the Commission’s 2008 guidance on its enforcement priorities in Article 102 cases involving allegedly exclusionary conduct (the “2008 Guidance Paper”) with formal (...)

Stephanie Reinart, Andreas Reindl The EU Commission sends a Statement of Objections to a Big Tech smartphone manufacturer clarifying its concerns over the firm’s App Store rules for music streaming providers, particularly on anti-steering obligations (Apple)

99

On 28 February 2023, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced that in its investigation of Apple’s App Store terms for music streaming app developers, it has adopted a new statement of objections (“SO”) which replaces the previous SO issued against Apple back in April 2021, and (...)

Andreas Reindl, Elias Olsson The Norwegian Supreme Court affirms the annulment of the Competition Authority’s decision prohibiting the acquisition of a used car sales online portal by an online marketplace owner (Schibsted / Nettbil)

116

In its judgment of 16 February 2023, the Norwegian Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court”) affirmed the annulment of a decision by the Norwegian competition authority (“NCA”) which had prohibited Schibsted ASA (“Schibsted”) from acquiring a majority stake in the used car sales portal Nettbil AS (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl, Richard Burton The EU Court of Justice rules that legal professional privilege extends to all communications from external counsel (Orde van Vlaamse Balies)

352

On 8 December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) handed down a judgment (C-694/20, Orde van Vlaamse Balies) which appears to strengthen the protection afforded by legal professional privilege (“LPP”) under EU law. In its judgment, the CJEU has held for the first time (...)

Pietro Stella, Andreas Reindl, Markus Wellinger The EU Court of Justice annuls a Commission decision which ordered Luxembourg to recover €20-30M in aid after a series of favourable transfer-pricing tax rulings (Fiat Chrysler)

92

On 8 November 2022, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) delivered its judgment in Joined Cases C-885/19 P, Fiat Chrysler Finance Europe v Commission, and C-898/19 P, Ireland v Commission, annulling a 2015 Commission decision that had found that a transfer price tax (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU Court of Justice rules that national courts may hear claims under Article 102 TFEU for excessive railway infrastructure fees only after the sector regulator has ruled on the fees’ lawfulness (DB Station)

164

On 27 October 2022, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down a ruling on the permissibility of private damages claims for excessive railway infrastructure fees under Article 102 TFEU. The ECJ found that a national court is precluded from awarding damages for excessive fees until the (...)

Katharina Bongs, Nick Lawn, Andreas Reindl The German Federal Court of Justice holds that arbitral awards that apply specific competition rules, including the abuse of dominance provision, are subject to a full review by the ordinary courts

94

In its landmark judgment of 27 September 2022 (KZB 75/21), the Bundesgerichtshof, the German Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ”), held that arbitral awards involving Sections 19 to 21 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (“ARC”) related to the abuse of dominance, abuse of relative (...)

Giovanni Pregno, Andreas Reindl The EU Court of Justice AG Rantos delivers an opinion on whether a Big Tech company’s non-compliance with data protection laws can be considered in competition law investigations and support the finding of a competition law violation (Meta)

107

On 20 September 2022, Advocate General (“AG”) Rantos delivered his opinion in Meta (Case C-252/21), concerning the interplay between the competition rules and GDPR, suggesting that non-compliance with data protection laws can be considered in competition law investigations and support the (...)

Andreas Reindl, Steve Ross The EU General Court partially upholds appeal against the EU Commission’s decision in relation to the abuse of dominance of a Big Tech in the mobile telecommunications sector (Google / Android)

46

In its Sept. 14 judgment in Google and Alphabet v. Commission, the European Union’s General Court partially upheld Google LLC’s appeal against the European Commission’s 2018 Google Android decision, but confirmed the decision’s most important and consequential elements. The court held that (...)

Giovanni Pregno, Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The Italian Parliament sees its 2021 Annual Law for the Market and Competition enter into force allowing, for below-threshold merger review, rebuttable presumption of economic dependence, and expanded investigatory powers

126

On 27 August 2022, the 2021 Annual Law for the Market and Competition (the “Law”) entered into force. Its most significant changes include the right of the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) to review mergers below the notification thresholds, the introduction of a rebuttable presumption of (...)

Andreas Reindl, Barbara Monti The French Competition Authority accepts a Big Tech company’s commitments to compensate publishers for the use of journalistic content (Google)

107

On 21 June 2022, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) announced that it accepted Google’s commitments related to compensating French publishers for the use of their journalistic content in a range of Google’s services. This brings to an end the FCA’s investigation into Google’s alleged (...)

Andreas Reindl, Barbara Monti The French Competition Authority accepts commitments from a social media platform to remedy competition concerns over a refusal to provide access to a marketing tool (Meta)

82

On 16 June 2022, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) announced that it accepted Meta’s commitments related to practices that would have raise competition concerns in the French market for non-search related online advertising. This clarifies the conditions of access to Meta’s partnership (...)

Andreas Reindl, Edoardo Canali, Giovanni Pregno, Rory Clarke The Spanish Competition Authority imposes a €4.9M fine on an energy grid and utility company for providing access to the grid on more favourable terms to its own downstream business than it does to rivals (Enel)

840

On 10 June 2022, the Spanish Competition Authority (“SCA”) found that Enel Green Power SL (“Enel”), and its parent company Endesa Generación SA (“Endesa”) infringed the Spanish national provision prohibiting abuses of dominant position by taking advantage of its dominant position in the market (...)

Andreas Reindl, Margot Vogels The EU Court of Justice preliminarily rules that the ne bis in idem principle provides limited protection against sanctions following investigations of the same infringements of competition law (bpost) (Nordzucker)

207

On 22 March 2022, the European Court of Justice (the “ECJ”) handed down two judgments highlighting that the European Union’s ne bis in idem principle – the equivalent to the protection against double jeopardy – provides only limited protection in competition law proceedings where the same (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU General Court rules that the Commission must ensure a “best placed” national competition authority can safeguard fundamental rights (Sped-Pro)

386

In its Sped-Pro judgment of 9 February 2022, the General Court of the European Union (“General Court”) for the first time examined the impact of deficiencies in the rule of law in an EU Member State on determining which competition authority in the EU is best placed to examine a complaint (...)

Andreas Reindl, Margot Vogels, Barbara Monti, Victor-Emanuel Ion The EU General Court affirms EU Commission’s decision to accept ’light-touch’ commitments from a Russian gas exporter to avoid a fine for anticompetitive behaviour and reverses another Commission decision with similar facts because the rationale was inadequate (Gazprom / Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo)

242

Gazprom: General Court confirms Commission’s commitment decision but annuls a decision based on similar grounds to reject a complaint against Gazprom On 2 February 2022, the General Court of the European Union (the “Court”) issued two judgments which follow the European Commission’s (the (...)

Lynn Waem, Andreas Reindl The Dutch Competition Authority imposes periodic penalties on a Big Tech company for non-compliance with its earlier decision finding abuse of dominance against developers of dating apps by limiting their choice of a payment system (Apple)

383

On 24 January 2022, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (“ACM”) decided to impose periodic penalties on Apple for its failure to comply with a decision of 24 August 2021 requiring Apple to change its App Store payment rules. In that decision, the ACM found that Apple had abused its (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU Commission publishes its final report on the consumer Internet of Things ahead of the final ’DMA’ negotiations, indicating material competition concerns in digital assistant markets

418

On 20 January 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) issued its (short) final report on the sector inquiry into consumer Internet of Things (“Report”), along with an explanatory Commission staff working document. The Report identifies various practices that may limit competition and (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU General Court awards a telecommunications company €1.8 million in damages, finding that the Commission had wrongly refused to pay default interest on the portion of a fine that the company had initially paid for an infringement of competition rules (Deutsche Telekom)

371

In a judgment of 19 January 2022, the General Court of the European Union (“Court”) awarded Deutsche Telekom AG (“DT”) € 1.8 million in damages, finding that the European Commission (“Commission”) had wrongly refused to pay default interest on the portion of a fine that DT had initially paid (...)

Andreas Reindl, Katharina Bongs The German Competition Authority determines that a Big Tech company is of paramount significance for competition across markets (Google / Alphabet)

260

According to a press release of 5 January 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has decided that Alphabet Inc., including its subsidiary Google (“Google”), is of paramount significance for competition across markets pursuant to Section 19a of the German Act against Restraints of (...)

Giovanni Pregno, Barbara Monti, Andreas Reindl The Italian Competition Authority imposes record-breaking fine of € 1.1 billion on an e-commerce company for “self-preferencing” its own logistical services (Amazon)

503

On 9 December 2021, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) adopted a decision finding that the Amazon group (“Amazon”) had violated Article 102 TFEU and harmed competing providers of e-commerce logistics services by tying the right of retailers on the Amazon marketplace to participate in (...)

Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The EU Commission publishes draft guidelines on the application of EU competition law to collective agreements regarding working conditions of solo self-employed persons

238

On 9 December 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) approved a draft communication containing guidelines on the application of EU competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons (“Draft Guidelines”). The Draft Guidelines reflect (...)

Andreas Reindl, Margot Vogels, Emma Janson The EU Commission publishes a Communication on a competition policy which would support the transition to a sustainable, digital, and resilient European economy

286

On 18 November 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published a communication on a competition policy fit for new challenges (“Communication”). There has been a significant push toward a more European Union-centred industrial policy which would support the transition to a sustainable, (...)

Andreas Reindl, Margot Vogels, Barbara Monti The EU General Court confirms that “self-preferencing” by a Big Tech company can infringe Article 102 TFEU (Google Shopping)

490

On 10 November 2021, the European General Court (“EGC” or “Court”) delivered its landmark Google Shopping judgment, the first judicial pronouncement on “self-preferencing” as a viable theory of harm under Article 102 TFEU. The EGC fully endorsed the European Commission’s (“Commission”) (...)

Andrzej Kmiecik, Andreas Reindl, Valérie Lefever, Margot Vogels The EU Commission publishes the draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation and draft revised Guidelines on Vertical Restraints

294

On 9 July 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published the draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (“Draft VBER”) and draft revised guidelines on vertical restraints (“Draft VGL”), a key step in the context of the revision of the current regime governing vertical (...)

Andreas Reindl, Margot Vogels The EU Commission publishes an inception impact assessment about potential revisions to the research and development block exemption regulation and the specialisation block exemption regulation

232

In the course of the ongoing review of the application of the EU competition rules to horizontal cooperation agreements, the European Commission (“Commission”) published on 7 June 2021 an inception impact assessment (“IIA”) in relation to potential revisions to the Research and Development (...)

Maria-Olga Papadopoulou, Margot Vogels, Andreas Reindl The French Competition Authority accepts proposed settlement with a Big Tech company regarding online advertising practices and imposes a €220M fine for self-preferencing in the market for online display advertising (Google AdX / Google DoubleClick for Publishers)

670

In a decision of 7 June 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) accepted a proposed settlement by Google LLC and Google Ireland Ltd (“Google”) with respect to certain online advertising practices. The decision also imposed a € 220 million fine on Google as it concluded that Google’s (...)

Giovanni Pregno, Andreas Reindl The Italian Competition Authority imposes a €102 million fine on a Big Tech company for abusing its dominant position by refusing to feature a competitor’s app on its digital platform (Google / Enel X)

278

On 27 April 2021, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) imposed a fine of over € 102 million on Alphabet Inc., Google LLC and Google Italy S.r.l. (collectively, “Google”) after concluding that Google had infringed Article 102 TFEU by refusing to include in Google’s own Android Auto app a (...)

Laura Lehoczky-Deckers, Andreas Reindl, Katharina Bongs The Munich Regional Court issues two preliminary injunctions regarding a cooperation agreement that has the effect of restricting competition on the market for health portals (Google / German Ministry of Health)

128

On 20 January 2021, the Regional Court of Munich I (the “Court”) issued two preliminary injunctions against Google Ireland Ltd. (“Google”) and the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the German Federal Ministry of Health (“the Ministry”), at the request of health platform NetDoktor.de (...)

Anna Jorna, Andreas Reindl The EU Court of Justice AG Saugmandsgaard Øe considers that the special jurisdiction rule for tort disputes under Brussels I Bis applies to civil liability actions based on an infringement of competition law (Wikingerhof / Booking.com)

203

On 10 September 2020, Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe rendered his non-binding opinion in the context of a preliminary reference request from the German Federal Court of Justice on the interpretation of Article 7(2) of Regulation 1215/2012 (“Brussels I Bis”). This Article provides that in (...)

Andreas Reindl, Argyris Papaefthymiou The UK Competition Authority publishes its final report on online platforms and digital marketing and calls for a new pro-competitive regulatory regime

80

On 1 July 2020, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its final report on its year-long market study into online platforms and the digital advertising market in the UK. The CMA found that existing competition law tools are not suitable for ensuring effective competition (...)

1906 Review

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