


Mark Powell
Mark Powell is a Partner at White & Case LLP. He has been advising clients on competition law issues for nearly thirty years. His practice has a particular focus on the interface between competition law and sector-specific regulatory requirements, in such areas as telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, energy, the media and transport. Clients benefit from his considerable experience handling regulatory clearance for complex mergers and acquisitions, including Zimmer/Biomet, Telia/Telenor (abandoned), Acergy/Subsea7, HBO/Ziggo, and Sanofi-Aventis/Zentiva. His work on Aegean/Olympic II was so persuasive that it resulted in the European Commission clearing it in a Phase II proceeding- the first time that it had cleared such a deal, having previously prohibited it. In addition, Mark has developed a significant track record representing and advising clients involved in cartel investigations, in areas including Euribor derivatives, nucleotides, synthetic rubber, candle wax, calcium carbide, ball bearings and power cables. He has helped clients to make successful appeals to the European Commission regarding matters ranging from infringement decisions to the re-negotiation of fines. Based in Brussels and London, he is able to advise international clients on both European and UK market investigation and merger cases.
Distinctions
Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Procedure
Nominee, 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Mergers
Winner, 2016 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Cross-Border
Nominee, 2015 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, General Antitrust
Winner, 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Private Enforcement
Winner, 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Anticompetitive Practices






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Articles
10159 Bulletin
88
The EU Court of Justice in the CK Telecoms ruling has addressed key questions of EU merger control, including the standard of proof for the European Commission to challenge a merger, the assessment of mergers below the dominance threshold ("gap cases"), the concepts of "closeness of (...)
121
On 28 October 2022, the European Commission adopted the second amendment to its State Aid Temporary Crisis Framework to support businesses affected by Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the unfolding energy crisis White & Case provides an overview of the key amendments. The Temporary (...)
410
No-poach agreements on the European Commission dawn raid radar* In a speech on 22 October 2021, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager revealed that the European Commission was planning a series of dawn raids for the months to come. She highlighted that the European Commission is not (...)
714
On 9 July 2021, the European Commission (EC) published for public consultation a draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and draft revised guidelines on vertical restraints (Vertical Guidelines). The EC has made substantial revisions, including adjustments to the rules (...)
372
The European Commission ("EC") is shifting its approach with respect to the referral mechanism under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation 139/2004 (the "EUMR") and now – at least in certain circumstances – encourages referrals from Member States even where the national filing thresholds are (...)
228
The European Commission ("EC") is shifting its approach with respect to the referral mechanism under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation 139/2004 (the "EUMR") and now – at least in certain circumstances – encourages referrals from Member States even where the national filing thresholds are (...)
570
The European Court of Justice (the "ECJ") has confirmed the EU General Court’s (and the European Commission’s) finding that Goldman Sachs was jointly liable for the conduct of a former subsidiary, Prysmian, which the Commission fined for its involvement in the high voltage power cables cartel (...)
183
While there is still no standalone foreign direct investment (FDI) screening at the EU level, the EU continues to push for a coordinated approach toward foreign direct investments into the EU. The key instrument is the EU Screening Regulation, which has entered into force on October 11, 2020. (...)
295
Last week, in response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the antitrust agencies in the United States and European Union issued policies that will affect, and may delay, merger filings and reviews. On March 13, 2020, the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade (...)
20
In BritNed v ABB, the English Court of Appeal substantially reduced the UK’s first award of damages in a so-called cartel damages claim brought for breach of European competition law. In so doing, the Court rejected calls for a more strict and punitive approach to damages in cartel claims. The (...)
19
New Rules Governing Expanded Class Action Lawsuits in Italy to Take Effect on April 19, 2020 The old thinking that class actions are only a threat in the US is history. The latest European example is Italy, where on April 3, 2019, the Italian Parliament enacted legislation amending the laws (...)
180
On 12 July 2018, the EU’s General Court handed down 12 judgments relating to the power cables case. Among these was a judgment which confirmed that a parent company able to exercise all the voting rights in a subsidiary is presumed liable for any infringement of the EU competition rules by (...)
410
The European Commission extends settlement procedure to abuse of dominance cases under Article 102 TFEU - fine imposed on Altstoff Recycling Austria reduced by 30% in exchange for its co-operation with the Commission* On 20 September 2016, the European Commission (“Commission”) issued its (...)
1003
Introduction On 10 March 2016, the European Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling annulling European Commission decisions requesting information from cement manufacturers, on the ground that the decisions did not sufficiently explain why the information requested was necessary . This (...)
235
The entry into force of the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the “CRA”) on 1 October 2015 marks the introduction of opt-out class actions in the UK, further transforming the legal landscape for private damages claims in the UK. Together with further changes as a result of the UK’s implementation (...)
643
The European Court of Human Rights (the “ECtHR”) has ruled in the Vinci case that the circumstances surrounding the electronic removal of documents and computer files during a dawn raid violated two companies’ privacy rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) . The (...)
378
This article has been nominated for the 2015 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. DG Competition of the European Commission just published its 5th patent monitoring report. It covers patent settlements entered into in 2013. Each year, the (...)
234
The European Commission (“EC”) has long sought to eliminate so-called harmful tax competition, which it sees as undermining the integrity of the internal market, fair competition and the fiscal sustainability of the Member States. Although the EU Member States remain sovereign in this area, (...)
149
On 9 April 2014, the European Commission adopted its new Energy and Environmental State Aid Guidelines (the “EEAG”) which will take effect from 1 July 2014 onwards, replacing the Environmental State aid Guidelines (“EAG”) from 2008, which did not cover State aid to the energy sector. The EEAG (...)
240
This article has been nominated for the 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. The existence in several countries of “blocking statutes”, which prohibit the provision of economic information to foreign authorities or courts (or require (...)
327
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 (...)
555
By its decision of 18 April 2007, the Commission imposed fines totalling approximately EUR 270 million on several Dutch brewers, including Heineken NV and its subsidiary Heineken Nederland BV, and Bavaria NV, for their participation in a cartel on the Dutch beer market between 27 February 1996 (...)
513
By its decision of 3 May 2006, the Commission imposed fines totalling over EUR 388 million on a number of companies for their participation in a cartel on the market for hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate (bleaching agents) between 31 January 1994 and 31 December 2000. Among the companies (...)
485
By its decision of 11 March 2008, the Commission imposed fines totalling over EUR 32 million on ten companies for their participation in a cartel on the international removal services market in Belgium between October 1984 and September 2003. In particular, the Commission imposed fines of EUR (...)
199
This article is the winner of the business category, anticompetitive practices section of the 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. In an Opinion delivered on 10 February 2011, Advocate General (‘AG’) Sharpston of the European Court of (...)
391
Today, the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") launched a review of barriers to entry, expansion and exit in retail banking.[1] The review comes at a time of when the UK Government has significant stakes in a number of major retail banks, which it will wish to divest over time. The purpose of the (...)
779
I. BACKGROUND The European Commission published the 24th February 2009 a Communication containing its long-awaited Guidance Paper on exclusionary abuses under Article 82 C(Commission Communication – Guidance on the Commission’s Enforcement Priorities in Applying Article 82 EC Treaty to (...)
418
For the third time this year, and the second time this week, the European Court of First Instance ("CFI") has overturned a decision of the EC Commission to block a merger. Once again, the CFI criticized the Commission’s factual findings and its analysis. Within hours of the judgment, (...)
3931 Review
1316
The steady growth of e-commerce continues to change the competitive landscape in which traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers operate. It is undeniable that this rapid growth is putting immense pressure on traditional retailers. Competition policies may have unwittingly accentuated the crisis (...)
959
This set of three papers is derived from the training session on the Private enforcement organized by the Concurrences Review that has held on 5th July 2012 in Brussels. In the first contribution, Frederic Jenny, chairman of the OECD Competition Committee, describes the main economic and legal (...)
1271
The e-book market is quite remarkable. The distribution’s economic models of this singular property are original and very different from one system to another. The U.S. and European litigations around the Apple’s practices and publishers, as well that the French law on the e-book price’s (...)
385
This third roundtable of the conference “New frontiers of Antitrust”, Paris, 10 February 2012, was dedicated to prescription markets and how competition law can deal with the principal/agent issue. This article considers how the phenomena described by economists as “prescription” should be (...)
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