Piet-Hein Eijssen

Main points discussed in this article: Sustainability is one of the highest priorities of our times. Sustainability goals can only be achieved on time when companies will have more leeway to cooperate. Competition rules sometimes appear to present a barrier for much needed cooperation and (...)

On 8 September 2020, the European Commission published its Staff Working Document (“Evaluation Document”) on the results of its evaluation of the VBER and its accompanying guidelines. One of the key gaps in the current framework is the absence of guidance on how retail parity clauses should be (...)

Introduction On 9 July 2020 the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (‘ACM’) published its draft sustainability guidelines (‘Draft Guidelines’) containing ACM’s proposed approach of assessing the compatibility of sustainability initiatives with competition law. A new feature in (...)

On 11 June 2020, the District Court of Rotterdam (‘District Court’) annulled the decision of the Minister of Economic Affairs & Climate (‘Minister’) to grant a licence for the acquisition of rival post operator Sandd by PostNL. This was the first time since the introduction of the Dutch (...)

On 27 May 2020, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets ("ACM") imposed a fine of € 82 million on four cigarette manufacturers for indirect information exchanges in violation of Article 101 TFEU and 6 Dutch Competition Act. It is the first fine ACM has given for indirect information (...)

On 26 May 2020, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (“Court”) delivered its judgment in a dispute between the real estate association VBO Makelaars (“VBO”) versus the Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents (“NVM”) over the online real estate platform of Funda Real Estate (“Funda”). The Court (...)

On 10 April 2020, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (“ACM”) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of publishing company Sanoma Media Netherlands (“Sanoma”) by DPG Media (“DPG”) and concluded that no in-depth phase 2 merger control investigation was required as sufficient (...)

On 17 March 2020, the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (“CBb”) reversed the 2018 decision of the Authority for Consumers and Markets (“ACM”) requiring telecom providers KPN and VodafoneZiggo to open up their fixed networks in the Netherlands to other providers. In September 2018, (...)

On 4 February 2020, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (“Court of Appeal”) ruled that cartel damage claims that were filed by claim vehicle CDC against Kemira were not time-barred under Spanish, Finnish and Swedish law. The Court of Appeal also dismissed Kemira’s challenge to the way in which the (...)

On 10 December 2019 , the Authority for Consumers & Markets ("ACM") imposed a fine of € 1,84 million on a company for the failure to comply with the duty to cooperate as laid down in Article 5:20(1) of the Dutch General Administrative Law Act ("GALA"). ACM found that during an on-site (...)

On 28 November 2019 the highest administrative court in The Netherlands (het College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven, "CBb") issued its final judgment in the flour cartel case. CBb has previously on 19 March 2019 issued an interlocutory ruling in this case. The Dutch competition authority (...)

On 26 November 2019 the Court of Appeal of Arnhem ("Court of Appeal") applied the EU competition law notion of an ‘undertaking’ in a cartel damage claim procedure between TenneT and entities belonging to the Alstom group of companies. The Court of Appeal ruled that one of these entities (...)

On 31 October 2019, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ("Court") handed down a significant judgment in relation to BritNed’s follow-on damages claim against a power cable cartel member, ABB. The Court allowed ABB’s cross-appeal in relation to cartel savings, finding that the High Court (...)

On 23 October 2019, the District Court of Rotterdam ("District Court") rendered an interim judgement on a private enforcement cartel claim against Kone and ThyssenKrupp. The private enforcement claim follows fines imposed by the European Commission back in 2007 for a lifts and (...)

On 3 October 2019 the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a Statement of Objections (the “SO”) to three pharmaceutical companies over pay-for-delay agreements in the market for Addison’s disease treatment. In its SO the CMA sets out its provisional view that, in 2016, (...)

In February of this year, PostNL announced its intention to acquire rival operator Sandd. In view of the rapidly declining postal volumes, the two operators consider the combination of their nationwide postal networks necessary to ensure continuity and affordability of postal services. On (...)

On 24 September 2019 the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published its report on the 2018 initiated market study about the effects the introduction of biosimilars had on competition between TNF alfa inhibitors on the Dutch market. ACM did not establish violations of (...)

On 14 August 2019 the Competition & Market Authority ("CMA") invited interested parties to comment on its intention to accept commitments from Aspen over an agreement that allegedly prevented the entry of a competing version of the drug fludrocortisone in the UK. The CMA suspected Aspen (...)

In May 2019 the Dutch State Secretary of Economic Affairs & Climate (’Ministry’) stated that she will plead in Europe for a new competence in European competition enforcement to keep digital markets accessible. One of her suggestions is to enable the competition authority to intervene in (...)

On 4 July 2019, a legislative proposal (’Wet ruimte voor duurzaamheidsinitiativen’, parliamentary document 2018-2019, 35247, no. 2) was submitted to the Dutch House of Representatives which aims to foster private collaboration towards sustainability goals by preventing sustainability (...)

On 27 June 2019 the District Court of Rotterdam annulled the decision of the Authority for Consumers and Markets ("ACM", the Dutch competition authority) to impose a fine of € 41 million on Dutch rail transport incumbent N.V. Nederlandse Spoorwegen ("NS") for abusing its dominant position (...)

On 7 May 2019, the The Hague Court of Appeal ("Court of Appeal") ruled against electronics company Asus in a patent dispute with electronics company Philips. The Court of Appeal found that Philips’ patent was valid and had been infringed by Asus. The manufacturer had argued that Philips abused (...)

On 11 April 2019 the Dutch competition authority ("ACM") published its findings on the ACM market study into mobile app stores ("Market Study"). ACM conducted the Market Study in order to gain more insight into how app providers are able to offer their apps in app stores and what influence (...)

On 19 March 2019 the highest administrative court in the Netherlands (het College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven, "CBb") ruled that private equity investors could be held liable for cartel infringements committed by their portfolio companies. In this case the Dutch Competition Authority (...)

On 26 February 2019, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets ("ACM") published both new (horizontal) guidelines on cooperation between competitors (Leidraad: samenwerking tussen concurrenten "Horizontal restraints guidelines") and (vertical) guidelines on agreements between suppliers (...)

On 21 December 2018, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (“ACM”) published guidelines on its simplified settlement procedure (“Settlement Guidelines”). This procedure may be followed if the ACM intends to impose a fine and the undertaking or person involved is prepared to admit to (...)

1. Introduction In its decision of 14 December 2012, the Dutch Competition Authority (hereafter "NMa") blocked the proposed acquisition of A.A. ter Beek B.V. by Continental Bakeries B.V. (hereafter: "the ruskmerger"). Both companies are involved in the production and sale of gingerbread and (...)