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Assimakis Komninos

White & Case (Brussels)

Partner

Assimakis Komninos is a partner with White & Case based in the firm’s Brussels office. Assimakis advises on questions of EU and Greek competition law, EU business regulation, international arbitration, litigation and private international law. He has argued both of the only two competition preliminary reference cases to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from Greece. His practice focuses on complex cases of abuse of dominance, restrictive agreements and merger notifications, and he represents clients before the European Courts, the European Commission, national competition authorities, national courts and international arbitration tribunals. Clients look to Assimakis for his proven track record and his ability to combine quietly resolving the most sensitive and complex investigations with aggressively litigating to achieve the necessary results. Chambers Global 2020 notes that he has "a solid theoretical background, which means he can handle different complex cases", while Legal 500 2020 lauds him for "his professionalism, proactive mentality and good communication ethos." Assimakis has acted before the ECJ in Syfait v. GlaxoSmithKline and Lélos v. GlaxoSmithKline (parallel trade of pharmaceuticals - abuse of dominance), and in GlaxoSmithKline Services v. Commission (parallel trade of pharmaceuticals - Article 101). He has also been involved before the EU General Court in Microsoft v. Commission (compulsory licensing of interoperability information), GlaxoSmithKline Services v. Commission (parallel trade of pharmaceuticals - application of Article 101), Chalkor Metal Works v. Commission (copper plumbing tubes), Public Power Corporation v. Commission (Greek lignites), EAEPC v. Commission (rejection of a complaint), representing GlaxoSmithKline, Google v. Commission (Google Shopping) and Google v. Commission (Google Android). He also successfully represented Aegean Airlines in Aegean/Olympic II, which resulted in the European Commission clearing the deal in a Phase II proceeding. This was the first time that the Commission cleared a merger after it had previously prohibited it. Assimakis has represented clients with excellent results in proceedings before the Albanian, Croatian, Cypriot, French, Greek, Kosovo, Romanian, Russian and Slovenian competition authorities and Belgian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, French, Greek, Latvian, Spanish and Russian courts. He has particular experience in arbitration cases involving competition issues, and in private antitrust litigation cases in national courts. Assimakis is a former Commissioner and Member of the Board of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC). Assimakis is currently a visiting professor (2020-2022) at Université Catholique de Louvain, a visiting fellow of the Centre for Law and Governance in Europe at University College London (UCL) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC) at the College of Europe. He is a prolific writer on legal matters and often gives speeches and seminars on EU competition law, arbitration and Greek law, and is a non-governmental advisor to the International Competition Network (ICN).

Distinctions

Nominee, 2022 Antitrust Writing Awards: Academic, Private Enforcement

Nominee, 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Procedure

Nominee, 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct

Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct

Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Academic, Unilateral Conduct

Nominee, 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct

Nominee, 2017 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Cross-Border Issues

Nominee, 2016 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Procedure

Nominee, 2015 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Mergers

Winner, 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Private Enforcement

Nominee, 2013 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, General Antitrust

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Belgium 4 contributions 1251 visits

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United States 11 contributions 1638 visits

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3447 | Events

17 Mar 2022 Paris Digital Antitrust: How to Regulate? See documents

28 Oct 2016 New York Competition and Globalization in Developing Economies See documents

25 Feb 2014 Bruxelles Analysing restructuring transactions: Reviewing mergers in markets in decline See documents

20 Mar 2013 Brussels Rebates, margin squeezes…: The equally-efficient competitor test See documents

Videos

Interview Assimakis Komninos — Assimakis Komninos 17 March 2022 Paris

Assimakis Komninos 28 October 2016 New York

Assimakis Komninos & Jacquelyn Maclennan, White & Case — Assimakis Komninos 25 March 2014 Washington DC

Articles

25112 Bulletin

Katarzyna Czapracka, Jérémie Jourdan, Assimakis Komninos, Tilman Kuhn, Nina Frie The EU Court of Justice confirms that the national authorities can review ex post below-threshold mergers under abuse of dominance rules (Towercast)

16 March 2023 441

The long-awaited European Court of Justice’s judgment in Towercast confirmed that national competition authorities (and national courts) can apply abuse of dominance rules to mergers that did not trigger EU and national merger control thresholds, and were not referred to the European (...)

Katarzyna Czapracka, Assimakis Komninos, Niccolò Piga The EU Court of Justice confirms that an effects-based approach applies to exclusive dealing and clarifies the narrow circumstances under which the conduct of distributors can engage the liability of a dominant company (Unilever Italia)

19 January 2023 669

On 19 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice, answering questions from the Italian Council of State, confirmed that the Intel effects-based approach applies also to exclusive dealing practices and held that competition authorities must duly examine economic evidence produced by dominant (...)

Jérémie Jourdan, Katarzyna Czapracka, James Killick, Assimakis Komninos, Peter Citron The EU Court of Justice clarifies the scope of the essential facilities doctrine in a case involving the Lithuanian national railway (Lietuvos geležinkeliai)

12 January 2023 495

On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law (Bronner), the Court confirmed that the Bronner case law did not apply to the (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Jérémie Jourdan, Preti Giulio The EU Commission publishes its draft DMA Implementing Regulation for consultation, together with the proposed notification form for "gatekeepers"

9 December 2022 320

On 9 December 2022, the European Commission published its draft DMA Implementing Regulation for consultation, together with the proposed Notification Form for "gatekeepers". The text deals with notifications, submissions and practical arrangements in relation to future Commission decisions (...)

Jérémie Jourdan, Assimakis Komninos, Tilman Kuhn, Strati Sakellariou-Witt, Jérémie Marthan, Katarzyna Czapracka, Nina Frie The EU Court of Justice AG Kokott proposes that non-reportable transactions could be caught by abuse of dominance rules (Towercast)

13 October 2022 178

Advocate General Juliane Kokott has proposed that the EU Court of Justice should find that competition authorities have the power to apply Article 102 TFEU to corporate transactions that are not reportable, and test under that provision whether the transaction as such constitutes an abuse of a (...)

Assimakis Komninos, James Killick The EU General Court quashes dominant chip manufacturer’s antitrust fine for "exclusivity payments" and censures the EU Commission for multiple due process and substantive errors (Qualcomm)

15 June 2022 1553

The General Court of the European Union delivered a blow to the European Commission in fully annulling its Qualcomm (exclusivity payments) decision of 2018 and a EUR 997 million fine. Qualcomm v Commission is the first annulment of an Article 102 TFEU decision adopted by Commissioner Margrethe (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Peter Citron The EU Commission publishes a preliminary report setting out the initial findings of its sector inquiry into the consumer Internet of Things

9 June 2021 602

On 9 June 2021, the European Commission (EC) published a Preliminary Report setting out the initial findings of its sector inquiry into the consumer Internet of Things (“IoT”). The consumer IoT sector encompasses services, devices and technologies that support the interaction of consumers with (...)

Peter Citron, Tilman Kuhn, Assimakis Komninos, James Killick, Jérémie Jourdan The EU Court of Justice dismisses the appeals of several manufacturers of medicines involved in an agreement seeking to delay the marketing of the generic antidepressant citalopram (Lundbeck)

25 March 2021 744

On 25 March 2021, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") dismissed all the appeals against the European Commission’s decision to fine Lundbeck and several other companies for entering into anti-competitive patent settlement agreements. The judgments largely repeat the position taken by the (...)

James Killick, Assimakis Komninos, Aqeel Kadri The UK Court of Appeal upholds the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s quashing of the Competition Authority’s decision against pharmaceutical undertakings who had allegedly abused their dominant position by pricing their epilepsy drug unfairly (Pfizer / Flynn)

10 March 2020 391

On 10 March 2020 the Court of Appeal upheld the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT) quashing of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision that Pfizer and Flynn Pharma (Flynn) had abused their dominant positions in the market by pricing their epilepsy drug unfairly. Among other (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Veronica Pinotti The Italian Competition Authority publishes guidelines for antitrust, privacy and consumer protection that will govern its approach to Big Data cases

10 July 2019 25

Setting the scene The Italian Competition Authority ("ICA"), recently published a set of Guidelines and Policy recommendations relating to the Digital Sector ("Guidelines"), focusing on antitrust, privacy regulation and consumer protection, the development of the digital economy, and, more (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Yann Utzschneider, Raphaël Richard The EU Commission publishes a report into loan syndication and its impact on competition in credit markets

5 April 2019 19

Setting the scene The long anticipated European Commission (DG COMP) report on " EU loan syndication and its impact on competition in credit markets " (see here) has finally been published. The study primarily focuses on the syndicated loan market segments, which relate to Leveraged Buy-Outs (...)

James Killick, Assimakis Komninos, Strati Sakellariou-Witt The UK Competition Authority closes its investigation into an allegedly abusive discount scheme in the pharmaceutical sector (Remicade)

14 March 2019 612

This article has been nominated for the 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. The CMA Remicade decision: discount schemes and abuse of dominance – effects matter!* Summary On 14 March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (...)

Assimakis Komninos, James Killick The EU Court of Justice dismisses the Commission’s appeal against the annulment of its decision to prohibit a merger in the parcel delivery market (UPS / TNT)

16 January 2019 637

This article has been nominated for the 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. EU Court confirms the need for transparency and full disclosure of economic analyses in EU merger cases (UPS/TNT)* On 16 January 2019, the Court of Justice (...)

Assimakis Komninos, James Killick The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal announces its provisional judgment in an appeal against the Competition Authority’s infringement decision in an excessive price case (Pfizer / Flynn)

7 June 2018 630

I. Introduction In the last couple of years, there has been a trend for antitrust watchdogs around the world to investigate excessive pricing, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. Last year, the European Commission opened its first investigation into excessive pricing in the (...)

Assimakis Komninos, James Killick, Jacquelyn MacLennan, Jérémie Jourdan, Strati Sakellariou-Witt, Jan Jeram, Axel P. Schulz The EU Court of Justice endorses an effects-based assessment of rebates (Intel)

6 September 2017 893

This article has been nominated for the 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. On 6 September 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU" or "Court") essentially held in Intel that the European Commission ("Commission") (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Polyvios Panayides The Cyprus Competition Authority imposes a fine of 750,000 Euro and behavioural remedies on an airport company (Hermes Airports)

23 June 2015 331

1. Background In its decision dated 23/6/2015 the Cypriot Commission for the Protection of Competition (the “CPC”) held that the operator of the Larnaca and Paphos international Airports in Cyprus, Hermes Airports Ltd, (hereafter referred as “Hermes”) violated Section 6(1)(a) of the Cyprus (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Ian Forrester, James Killick The EU Court of Justice holds that parent companies may be fined for repeated infringements even without being an addressee of the earlier decisions (Versalis)

5 March 2015 897

On 5 March 2015, the European Court of Justice (CoJ) handed down its judgment in Versalis , concerning the increasing of fines for antitrust infringements where a company is found to be a repeat offender. The judgment raises important questions about the respect for the rights of defence in EU (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Benoît Corbisier de Méaultsart, Nathalie Colin The Belgian Parliament passes a law introducing class action

17 February 2014 318

Class Actions: Now in Belgium*Class actions are a hot topic in Europe, and elsewhere. Various European countries have introduced, or are in the process of introducing, class action mechanisms. At the European Union level a similar development is noticeable, with proposals both in the field of (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Ian Forrester, Jacquelyn MacLennan, Kai Struckmann, Mark Powell, Pontus Lindfelt The European Commission adopts a package on private damages actions in antitrust cases

11 June 2013 325

This article has been nominated for the 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. Summary On 11 June 2013, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted a proposal for a directive on how citizens and companies can bring damages claims (...)

Assimakis Komninos Private enforcement: An overview of EU and national case law

22 March 2012 560

1. Introduction 2011 marked the ten year anniversary of the seminal Courage v. Crehan ruling of the Court of Justice, so it seems appropriate to take stock. In the last ten years there have been a lot of developments, indeed, a true revolution with regard to private antitrust enforcement in (...)

Assimakis Komninos The European Commission publishes a White Paper on damages actions for breach of European antitrust rules

2 April 2008 538

White Paper on damages actions for breach of EC antitrust rules. What Does It Mean For Business? The White Paper brushes aside fears expressed in the business world and among practitioners about the import into Europe of a US-style mixture of aggressive class actions and treble damages and (...)

Assimakis Komninos Refurbishment of Greek competition law: Harmonisation with or departure from the EU model? (Law 3373/2005)

2 August 2005 3220

On August 2005, a new Act was passed amending the Greek Competition Act n° 703 of 1977, which itself has been amended in the past on numerous occasions. The main objective of Law 3373/2005 was to reshuffle Greek competition law and essentially to respond to the new context of competition law (...)

Assimakis Komninos The EU Court of Justice rules that the Greek Competition Authority is not a “court or tribunal” in the meaning of Art. 234 EC and therefore can not apply for an ECJ preliminary ruling (Syfait / GlaxoSmithKline)

31 May 2005 10714

On 31 May 2005 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered its judgment in Case C-53/03, Syfait and others v. GlaxoSmithKline AEVE and GlaxoSmithKline plc (“Syfait”), which raises the question of whether a dominant pharmaceutical undertaking is under a duty to supply unlimited quantities of (...)

36952 Review

Assimakis Komninos EC Private Antitrust Enforcement: Decentralised Application of EC Competition Law by National Courts

May 2008 51

This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)

Damien Gerard, Assimakis Komninos Remedies in EU Competition Law: Substance, Process and Policy, Damien GERARD and Assimakis KOMNINOS

November 2020 120

Assimakis Komninos, Georgios Gryllos Legal, institutional and policy implications of the introduction of a new competition tool

February 2021 2567

As the European Commission is preparing its proposal for a ’New Competition Tool’, we look at the legal, Institutional and policy Implications of such a tool. We examine questions of legal basis, substantive standard of Intervention, procedural design and judicial review and the role of EU (...)

Agisilaos Karpetas, Assimakis Komninos, Carpagnano Michele, Frederic Jenny, Knut Fournier The recovery of antitrust harms in foreign legal systems (Antitrust damages actions in France and in Europe : Current situation and upcoming changements, Paris, 13 May 2014)

September 2014 1033

The first roundtable of the conference held in Paris, the 13th May 2014 on the recovery of antitrust harm was dedicated to the antitrust harm in foreign legal systems. Michele CARPAGNANO Professor, University of Trento Co-Director, Osservatorio Antitrust Knut PROVIDER Research Associate, (...)

Antonello Schettino, Assimakis Komninos, Christopher Brown, Ekaterina Rousseva, Gianluca Faella, Victoria Mertikopoulou Efficiency defences in abuse of dominance cases

May 2014 2393

The existence and application of the so-called "efficiency defence" in Article 102 TFEU has been an issue of serious contention over the last years. The 2009 Guidance Paper gave new impetus to the notion. The articles below provide an EU and a national perspective. The existence, legitimacy (...)

Assimakis Komninos, David Bosco, Frédéric Marty, Hans Zenger, Strati Sakellariou-Witt The "as efficient competitor test": A new era?

September 2013 3089

The "reasonably-efficient operator test" is a general test used for pricing strategies of dominant firms by the European Commission. Contributions of this "Trends" present this test in various areas of competition law. The importance of this test has recently been underlined by the Court of (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Nicolas Charbit Assimakis Komninos (Hellenic Competition Commission): Competition enforcement in times of crisis

February 2011 1668

1. Makis, you have been a Commissioner and Member of the Board of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) for a year and a half, having left Brussels and an international law firm. Do you miss the life of a practitioner in Brussels? 2. Can you describe your work at the HCC? 3. Greece has (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Florence Ninane, Francesco Rosati, Geoffrey D. Oliver, Hendrick Bourgeois, Ioannis Lianos, James Killick, Johanne Peyre, Niamh McCarthy, Philippe Choné The EU guidance on exclusionary abuses: A step forward or a missed opportunity?

May 2009 6926

What are the consequences for business of the Commission’s Communication on Article 82 of the Treaty? Does it make the Commission’s action more predictable? Does the use of a wide range of economic criteria reduce the risk that pro-competitive practices by dominant companies will be considered (...)

Assimakis Komninos, José Luis Buendia Sierra, Pascal Berghe, Patrick Rey, Robert Kovar, Thierry Dahan Vertical restraints, parallel imports and the objective of market integration

December 2008 7325

One of the most significant parameters that framed EC competition policy towards vertical restraints has been the importance of market integration in Europe. The recent saga of cases on parallel imports of pharmaceuticals brought under Articles 81 and 82 EC in national and Community courts (...)

Assimakis Komninos The EU White Paper for damages actions: A first appraisal

May 2008 6188

La Commission européenne a publié début avril 2008 son Livre blanc sur les actions en dommages et intérêts pour infraction aux règles communautaires sur les ententes et les abus de position dominante. Le Livre blanc présente un certain nombre de propositions spécifiques qui permettront de (...)

Assimakis Komninos, Ian Forrester Lisbonne Agenda and Competition Law

September 2006 5592

The European Commission tends to refer more and more to the Lisbon Agenda in various competition policy documents. The authors are of the opinion that such a tendancy is contrary to the objectives of the competition policy. Recently, in some of its official communications on Community (...)