Marie-Laure Combet is a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in Paris. Prior to joining Orrick in 2017, Marie-Laure Combet was counsel in the antitrust practice of a magic circle law firm. Her practice focuses on merger control, antitrust and state aid issues, both at French and European levels. She holds a joint degree in Global Business Law from the University of Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne/Sciences Po Paris and a master in European Law from the University of Paris II-Assas. She was admitted to the Paris Bar in 2007.
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On 12 October, the next chapter of the EU’s fight against distortive subsidies opened, with ex-ante notification obligations for concentrations and bids in public procurement procedures involving subsidies by non-EU countries entering into force (please see our recent update here). Companies (...)
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On 1 June 2023, the EU Commission has announced the adoption of updated Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations on Research and Development (R&D) and Specialization agreements (HBERs) and revised Horizontal Guidelines. HBERs exclude certain horizontal agreements from the scope of Art. (...)
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In a judgment dated 13 July 2022 (T-227/21), the General Court of the European Union (the “General Court” or the “Court”) upheld the decision of the European Commission (the “Commission”) whereby the latter accepted to assert its (merger control) jurisdiction over the “below-the-thresholds” (...)
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After the various measures taken by countries, international organizations and companies to pressure Russia to stop its aggression against Ukraine, it is now the turn of the antitrust enforcers of the European Competition Network (ECN) to make their contribution. They did so by publishing a (...)
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By decision dated August 5th 2021 (hereafter, the “Decision”), the French Competition Authority (hereafter the ‘FrCA’) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of joint control by Action Logement Immobilier and two local authorities (i.e., the Région and the Département of Guadeloupe) over (...)
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The European Commission (“Commission”) is expanding its jurisdiction over transactions by encouraging national competition authorities (“NCAs”) of the EU Member States to ‘refer’ certain transactions to it that fall below the thresholds for mandatory notification at the EU and the national (...)
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The debate about competition issues and unfair practices specific to online platforms and the appropriate tools to tackle them was taken a step further by the European Commission (‘Commission’), which presented two legislative proposals on 15 December 2020: The Digital Services Act (‘DSA’) and (...)
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The EU State Aid regime has long protected the EU internal market from anti-competitive subsidies granted by EU Member States. On 17 June 2020, the European Commission published a White Paper that proposes a new set of tools designed to address distortive effects in the internal market caused (...)
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In a welcomed attempt to align their approaches, the antitrust enforcers of the European Competition Network (ECN) have published a brief joint statement on the application of competition law during the Covid-19 crisis. If one may regret that its content remains too high-level, it is an (...)
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On June 26, 2019, the EU Commission opened a formal investigation into U.S. chipmaker Broadcom’s alleged abuse of dominance. In a rather unexpected move, the EU Commission informed the company, on the same day, of its intention to impose interim measures, a long-forgotten tool. Broadcom, (...)
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1. Background: Back in 2013, Scor SE (“Scor”), whose subsidiary is engaged on the French market for the reinsurance of risks relating to natural disasters, lodged a complaint with the European Commission alleging unlawful and incompatible State aid in favor of Caisse Centrale de Réassurance (...)
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On April 4, 2019, just three months after the publication of the European Commission (EC) report on “Competition enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector,” the French Competition Authority (FrCA) issued its report n°19-A-08 on “Distribution of drugs and private medical biology.” While the (...)
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Does the EU Court of Justice “Specializuotas transportas” case ring the death knell of the French derogation to intra-group immunity? In its judgment Šiaulių regiono atliekų tvarkymo centras and Ecoservice projektai UAB (Case C-531/16) rendered on May 17, 2018, the EU Court of Justice has (...)
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I. Facts The French rail operator SNCF enjoys a legal monopoly on passenger rail transport. However, train tickets themselves are sold through three main distribution channels : SNCF’s physical sales points as well as its merchant website operated by its VSC subsidiary (which altogether (...)
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This is the first time that the French Supreme Administrative Court has had to decide on an application for annulment for refusing to report State measures which may qualify as state aid. The case at stake provided the French Supreme Administrative Court with an opportunity to specify the (...)
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Facts and Ruling In the present case, the dispute arose between Pacific Creation, a fragrance manufacturer and retailer and PMC Distribution (PMC), a pure player which offers branded products exclusively on the Internet. In France, Pacific Creation‘s fragrances are retailed through a (...)
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Summary of the decision Following an investigation with dawn raids and seizures initiated further to a leniency application, the French Competition Council has sanctioned a horizontal cartel between twelve companies in the sector of national and international removals to and from France, (...)
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Whilst the prohibition of exploitative abuse - in particular, of excessive pricing - is normally the most protective of consumers, it is the least frequently prosecuted offence. This paradox, which is justified by the existence of strong conceptual objections and practical difficulties, may (...)
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In response to the severity of the banking crisis of 2008, certain European Union Member States discussed the relevance of continuing to apply Community legislation on State aid. Ultimately, the European Commission stressed the usefulness of such regulation in the avoidance of damaging (...)
