Alvaro is a Counsel in Freshfields’s global ACT practice, specializing in: antitrust / competition law, EU state aid and market regulation (EU single market, telecoms, tech, energy). He has acted on many international and high-profile litigious and M&A matters, including a number of appeals against the EU tax ruling decisions in the area of state aid; as well as EU cartel and merger litigation (UPS/TNT, KPN v. Commission). Another core part of Alvaro’s practice is advising clients in sectors including (online) tech, telecoms, media, FMCG and energy on complex EU regulatory matters (sector regulation, free movement, consumer protection). Before joining Freshfields in 2011, he spent five years at the Dutch Competition Authority as a member of its Legal Service.
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The European Court of Justice ( CJEU ) handed down its judgment in Towercast on 16 March 2023, confirming Advocate General Juliane Kokott’s Opinion from October 2022 that the prohibition on abuse of dominance under Article 102 TFEU is applicable to certain non-reportable mergers by dominant (...)
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For the facts of the case, please refer to the case summary of the judgment from the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 27 May 2016 (Commerz v Rotterdam Port Authority) ECLI:NL:HR:2016:994. Taking into account the preceding judgments of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands and the Court of (...)
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Similar to the Residex saga, the Commerzbank judgments concerned the grant of a guarantee by the director of the Rotterdam Municipal Port Authority (GHR). On 5 November 2003, Commerzbank Nederland (Commerz) provided a credit of EUR 25 million to RDM Vehicles B.V. (RDM Vehicles), which was to be (...)
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After taking account of the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice, the Supreme Court (SC) recalled that Residex argued that a declaration of nullity on the basis of Article 3:40 of the Dutch Civil Code does not lead to a restoration of the status quo ex ante as required by Article 108(3) (...)
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By decision of 3 February 2011, the Municipality of Gorinchem (the Municipality), the defendant, designated the implementation of the ferry route between the towns Boven Hardinxveld - Werkendam - Gorinchem - Sleeuwijk (the ferry route) as a Service of General Economic Interest (SGEI) and (...)
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By decision of 21 November 2008, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science refused to grant permission to the Open University of the Netherlands (OUN) to provide the part-time Higher Education (one step below university level) bachelor’s degree programme in law in the form of distance (...)
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TZG and HWW were two foundations that provided healthcare services falling within the scope of the Exception Medical Expenses Act (the Algemene Wet Bijzondere Ziektekosten, AWBZ). TZG and HWW functioned to ensure the continuation of healthcare services of another healthcare provider which had (...)
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On 1 October 2008, the Elst Health Centre Foundation (SGE), a commercial health centre governed by general practitioners and physiotherapists, entered into a preliminary rental agreement with the Municipality of Rhenen (Municipality), the defendant, regarding the lease of certain premises for (...)
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From 2006 onwards, the inspection of red meat (after slaughter) in the Netherlands was no longer the responsibility of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, but of a separate private entity KDS. During that reorganisational period, the State decided that a new tax be (...)
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The Dutch Electricity Act (Elektriciteitswet 1998) contained a provision which regulated the use of the proceeds from the auction on the Amsterdam Power Exchange Spotmarket B.V. (APX) of electricity transported across the Dutch border. This provision stated that the relevant network operator (...)
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Each year, the Dutch Health Insurance Board (the Board) pays out an equalisation contribution to a health insurer if the latter has met its obligations to report its intention to offer and implement healthcare insurance to the Dutch Healthcare Authority. In 2008, the Board had, in accordance (...)
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By decision of the 4 February 2009, the Municipal Executive of Lingewaard (Municipal Executive) granted a zoning plan exemption and a building permit to the municipality of Lingewaard for the construction of a sports building with a swimming facility and a fitness centre in Bemmel. The (...)
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Residex appealed the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the Hague at the Dutch Supreme Court (SC). The SC held that there was no dispute as regards the Court of Appeals’ finding that the guarantee constituted State aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU and that it should therefore have (...)
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Between 1 July 2008 and 1 July 2009, a so-called “flight tax” was levied on every air passenger starting their journey from the Netherlands. While the tax was levied on the airline operator, the legislator had assumed that the airlines would pass the tax onto passengers. However, because the tax (...)
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On the 24 July 2008, the municipality of Rotterdam awarded a concession for public transport by bus in Rotterdam to RET N.V. (RET) for a period of three years. The applicant, Connexxion Openbaar Vervoer N.V. (Connexxion), a private rival transport enterprise, appealed against this decision. (...)
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For the facts of the case, please refer to the case summary of the judgment from the Court of Rotterdam of 24 January 2007 (Residex v Municipality of Rotterdam) ECLI:NL:RBROT:2007:AZ6904. On appeal, Residex argued that the Court of Rotterdam erroneously designated RDM Aerospace as beneficiary (...)
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Woningstichting Sint Servatius (Servatius), an approved institution within the meaning of the relevant Dutch housing laws, had applied for an authorisation from the Dutch Minister of Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment (the Minister) to invest in a planned, cross-border (...)
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In 2001, Residex Capital IV C.V. (Residex) acquired shares in MD Helicopters Holding N.V. (MDH), a subsidiary of RDM Aerospace N.V. (RDM Aerospace). As part of this transaction, Residex obtained an option to resell the shares in MDH to RDM Aerospace. Residex exercised this put option by letter (...)
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In 1995, UPC, a (former) provider of broadband, telephony, and television services in the Netherlands, acquired the Amsterdam cable network. In 2004, the Municipality of Amsterdam decided to install a fiber optic network (Citynet) in three layers. In the same year, the Municipality started the (...)
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Baby Dan was a producer of stair gates who had a dispute with its competitor Bruca c.s. (consisting of the entities WeDeKa, De Risse, Bruca and Sluis Groep) concerning, among other things, an alleged copyright infringement of one of Baby Dan’s brand names and unfair competition from Bruca c.s. (...)
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