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Antoine Winckler

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Brussels)

Partner

Antoine Winckler is a partner with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton based in their Brussels office. Mr. Winckler’s practice focuses on European and French competition law, including cartel investigations, merger control, and market dominance. Mr. Winckler has advised clients in numerous cartel cases, including those relating to cement, copper tubes, seamless steel tubes, paper and elevators. He also has been counsel to clients in merger control procedures, including the Nestlé/Perrier, EADS, Elf/TotalFina, Schneider/Legrand, Arcelor-Mittal and Danone Numico cases. Mr. Winckler has extensive experience representing corporate clients and financial institutions, as well as governments and public entities, regarding EC State aid rules. In this area, Mr. Winckler has advised on the Ford/Volkswagen, Credit Lyonnais and France Telecom cases, as well as other State aid matters. Mr. Winckler has vast experience representing clients before the European Commission, the European Courts in Luxembourg, the French Competition Council and the Court of Appeals in Paris. His litigation experience includes many major competition and State aid cases such as Matra v. Commission, Microsoft v. Commission, Schneider v. Commission. Mr. Winckler is distinguished as a leading competition/antitrust lawyer by Chambers & Partners Global - The World’s Leading Lawyers, Who’s Who Legal and the PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook. Mr. Winckler joined the firm in 1985 and became a partner in 1992. Prior to joining the Cleary Gottlieb, Mr. Winckler was an administrative judge. He received law degrees from the Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis in 1984 and from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris in 1979. Mr. Winckler graduated from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in 1983 and the French Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1976. Mr. Winckler is a member of the Bars of Paris and Brussels. He is admitted to practice before the EC Court of Justice, the EC Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeals in Paris. He is also a member of the International Bar Association, the Association des Juristes Européens, the Association de Formation et d’Enseignement Continu (AFEC), and the European Competition Lawyers Forum. His native language is French, and he is fluent in English, German, Italian and Spanish. Mr. Winckler is widely published on various aspects of EC constitutional and competition law, including “Collective Dominance under EC Merger Control Rules,” published in the Common Law Market Review; “Legal Privilege and EC Competition Rules,” published in the Belgian journal Bruylant; and “State Guarantees for Financial Institutions: of State Aid and Moral Hazard,” published by the Institut Universitaire Européen. In addition, he is co-author of a treatise on merger control rules, which includes a comparative study of main merger control regimes in EC countries (“La Pratique Communataire du Contrôle des concentrations” De Boeck-Wesmael, 1998). Mr. Winckler is also the Editor for the section on Merger Control in the journal Revue Lamy de la Concurrence.

Distinctions

Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Concerted Practices

Nominee, 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Concerted Practices

Nominee, 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Anticompetitive Practices

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Linked authors

Sophia Antoniou

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Brussels)

Belgium 1 contribution 245 visits

Katharina Apel

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Cologne)

Germany 3 contributions 801 visits

Sabrina Apitz-Grossman

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (London)

United Kingdom 1 contribution 561 visits

Basak Arslan

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Brussels)

Belgium 1 contribution 245 visits

Clara Cibrario Assereto

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Rome)

Italy 1 contribution 34 visits

12635 | Events

9 Nov 2021 Brussels Brussels Antitrust in Home Office - Photo exhibition See documents

15 May 2020 Webinar WEBINAR #6 Industrial Policy and Competition Policy in the post-Covid context See documents

27 Sep 2018 Paris Regulation of digital platforms: Round-table and dinner with Jean Tirole, Isabelle de Silva, Nils Wahl and Delphine Gény-Stephann See documents

11 Jun 2018 Paris New frontiers of Antitrust 2018 See documents

24 Mar 2016 Paris Dinner in honor of Bruno Lasserre: Market power and digital economy See documents

15 Jul 2014 Bruxelles Competition Policy and National Champions See documents

23 Jan 2013 Brussels Spatial competition and local markets: How to define relevant local markets? See documents

Videos

Antoine Winckler (Cleary Gottlieb) — Antoine Winckler 11 June 2018 Paris

Articles

2107 Bulletin

Antoine Winckler, Robbert Snelders, Timothy Noelanders The EU Commission adopts Merger Simplification Package which is designed to streamline its procedure under the EU Merger Regulation

20 April 2023 57

The European Commission Simplifies Its Merger Control Review Process* On April 20, 2023, the Commission adopted the 2023 Merger Simplification Package (the “2023 Package”) designed to streamline its procedure under the EU Merger Regulation. In particular, the 2023 Package (1) expands the (...)

Antoine Winckler, François-Charles Laprévote, Frédéric de Bure, Séverine Schrameck The French Competition Authority applies the "failing firm" defence for the first time (Mobilux / Conforama)

28 April 2022 82

On April 28, 2022, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of home furnishing retailer Conforama by Mobilux, the parent company of competitor But Group. The FCA applied the failing firm defense for the first time. Background On July 8, 2019, Mobilux (...)

Antoine Winckler, Andris Rimsa, Wanjie Lin, Edward Dean The EU General Court upholds the Commission’s decision to fine a multinational telecommunications company €124.5M for gun jumping (Altice / PT Portugal)

22 September 2021 281

On September 22, 2021, the General Court upheld the European Commission’s decision to fine Altice Europe NV, a multinational telecommunications company, for prematurely implementing its acquisition of PT Portugal. Altice had engaged in conduct that contributed to the change in control of PT (...)

Antoine Winckler, Daniela Weerasinghe The EU Commission unconditionally clears a fuel-cell joint venture aiming to achieve climate-neutral and sustainable transportation (Volvo / Daimler)

5 February 2021 1107

Volvo Group (“Volvo”) and Daimler Truck AG (“Daimler”), notified a joint venture (“JV”) in the relatively novel but rapidly evolving hydrogen fuel-cell sector to the European Commission (“EC”, the “Commission”) . The JV cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG, based in Germany, will be active in the (...)

Antoine Winckler, Maurits Dolmans The EU Commission publishes new guidelines on the applicability of article 101 TFEU to horizontal co-operation agreements

14 January 2011 580

This article has been nominated for the 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. On January 14, 2011, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published new Guidelines on the Applicability of Article 101 TFEU to Horizontal Co-operation (...)

38150 Review

Andrea Bassanini, Antoine Winckler, Sophie Ozil Anti-competitive practices in the labor market (Nasse Seminar - Paris, March 24, 2023)

September 2023 220

I. Theoretical background 1. Antoine Winckler: There are three main families of potentially anti-competitive practices in the labour market: the fixing of working conditions, particularly wages, between companies; no-poaching agreements: companies agree not to solicit employees who have (...)

Antoine Winckler In Memoriam: John Temple Lang (1936–2022)

November 2022 2809

This foreword is an In Memoriam for Mr. John Temple Lang. Dr John Temple Lang, an internationally renowned competition lawyer, a pioneer of European law, and a passionate ornithologist and environmentalist, died suddenly in his 86th year. The Dublin-born lawyer worked for the European (...)

Frederic Jenny, Damien Neven, Jacques Buhart, David Henry, Thomas Funke, Mathew Heim, Catarina Midões, Nicholas Levy, David Little, Henry Mostyn, Ioannis Lianos, Massimo Motta, Martin Peitz, Cristoforo Osti, Almos Papp, Christian Wik, Kristian Hugmark, Julia Vahvaselkä, Antoine Winckler, Thierry Boillot Which competition and industrial policies for the new EU Commission after Siemens/Alstom?

May 2019 7250

This series of articles presents different points of view about the priorities of the newly established Commission on competition policy in Europe in the aftermath of the decision prohibiting the Siemens/Alstom merger and of the manifesto published by French and German governments. These (...)

Antoine Winckler Mergers and gun jumping: What are companies actually allowed to do? (New Frontiers of Antitrust - Paris, 11 June 2018)

September 2018 2932

Gun jumping has come to the forefront of antitrust enforcement in a number of important jurisdictions, including the European Union and France.  A consensus has emerged, particularly regarding infringements resulting from the acquisition of control through shares and voting rights and the (...)

Antoine Winckler, Damien Neven, François-Charles Laprévote European champions and merger control rules

December 2014 1103

This set of two papers is derived from the training session on “Competition Policy and National Champions” organized by Concurrences Journal in Brussels the 15th July 2014. In the first paper, Damien Neven (professor of Economics at the Graduate Institute of Geneva) argues that a change in (...)

Anne Perrot, Antoine Winckler, Paul Seabright, Pierre-André Buigues Industrial policy and competition policy (Nasse seminar - Paris, 13th April 2012)

September 2012 135

During the Nasse Seminar organized the 13th of April of 2012, Pierre-André Buigues, Antoine Winckler and Paul Seabright talked about industrial policy and competition policy. The seminar was animed by Anne Perrot, vice president of the Competition authority. Created at the end of the 1980s (...)

Anne Perrot, Antoine Winckler, Bruno Jullien The competitive functioning of the advertising market (Nasse Seminar - Paris, 5th May 2011)

September 2011 133

During the Seminar organized the 5th of May of 2011, Antoine Winckler and Bruno Jullien talked about the competitive functioning of the advertising market. The seminar was animed by Anne Perrot, vice-president of the Competition Authority. Created at the end of the 1980s within the (...)

Antoine Winckler, David Bosco, Laurence Idot, Laurent Truchot, Olivier Sautel Repeated infringements in anti-competitive practices

December 2010 6111

Many recent cases, such as the Lafarge case in Europe or, in France, the Orange Caraïbe case, have shown how important is the question of repeated infringements when defining the amount of the fine in antitrust cases. Nevertheless, legal treatment of repeated infringements is still quite (...)

Antoine Winckler, Bo Vesterdorf, Douglas Miller, John M. Connor, Laurence Idot, Wouter Wils Sanctions: Is more always better? (New Frontiers of Antitrust Conference - Paris, 15th February 2010 - Panel III)

May 2010 3112

Sanctions: Is more always better? Introduction Laurence IDOT Professeur à l’Université Paris II-Panthéon Assas Présidente du comité scientifique de Concurrences 1. Après les enquêtes et le rôle de l’économie comportementale dans l’appréciation des comportements, voici venu le temps des (...)

Andrea Amelio, Antoine Winckler, Carlos Winograd, David Spector, François-Charles Laprévote, Georges Siotis Competition policy in times of crisis

May 2009 6188

Historically, economic crises have often been accompanied by anti-competitive reactions, which have on the whole aggravated the situation, at least in the case of the United States at the beginning of the New Deal. This precedent suggests that such a reaction would be an erroneous response to (...)

Alain Bazot, Alberto Heimler, Antoine Winckler, Bernhard Heitzer, Bruno Lasserre, Bruno Parent, Carles Esteva Mosso, Catherine Prieto, Christine Lagarde, Elie Cohen, Francis Amand, François Garnier, John Davies, Jorge Padilla, Khelifa Tounekti, Knut Eggum Johansen, Laurent Cohen Tanugi, Luc Chatel, Manuel Sebastião, Mario Monti, Meglena Kuneva, Mohamed Kolsi, Mohammed Rachid Baïna, Mona Yassine, Montaser Oklah, Neelie Kroes, Patrick Rey, Peter Freeman, Philip Lowe, Rainer Michael Bierwagen, Ronit Kan, Tomás Duplá del Moral, Yasar Tekdemir Colloque: Competition Day, 18-19 November 2008, Paris

February 2009 8067

Considering the important number of contributions, the papers of this conference are reproduced in the pdf version attached only. Please note that these papers are also freely available for non-subscribers at the "Conference" section of the website.

Anne Perrot, Antoine Winckler, David Spector Economic damages evaluation (Nasse Seminar - Paris, 4th December 2008)

February 2009 90

During the Seminar organized the 4th of December of 2008, Antoine Winckler and David Spector talked about the economic damages evaluation. The seminar was animed by Anne Perrot, vice-president of the Competition Authority. Created at the end of the 1980s within the Forecasting Department, (...)