Ciara Barbu-O’Connor is an associate in the antitrust and competition practice group in the firm’s Brussels office. Ciara is a member of the firm’s EU Competition & Regulatory practice and advises on all aspects of European, UK and Belgian competition law, including mergers, cartels, abuse of dominance as well as State aid across all sectors and industries. Her past experience includes work in the antitrust groups of other international law firms in Brussels and in the Directorate-General for competition of the European Commission where she worked on the transposition of the EU Directive for antitrust damages.
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I. Introduction State aid private enforcement continues to develop rapidly with landmark cases that are some of the most important in competition law. This special issue will look at this type of competition law private enforcement which, given the recorded cases, is as developed, if not (...)
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The unique EU State aid control law requires, in principle, prior notification by Member States and approval by the Commission of all State aid. During a time of crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, EU law allows for a flexible approach for approving urgent State aid. In this post, we discuss (...)
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On October 6, 2021, the Court of Justice, in its Grand Chamber, put an end to this contentious saga regarding the amortization of the financial goodwill resulting from the acquisition of a stake of at least 5% in a "foreign company" by a company taxable in Spain. The Court dismisses eight (...)
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This is a continuation of one of the "tax ruling" cases, here pitting the Commission against Belgium and several multinationals, including Magnetrol International. On 16 September 2021, the Court of Justice sets aside the judgment of the General Court of 14 February 2019 and remits the case (...)
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On 14 July 2021, the Court of First Instance dismissed an action brought by Nike against the Commission’s decision to initiate the formal investigation procedure in thetax rulingcase concerning the Nike group. According to the Court of First Instance, the Commission complied with the (...)
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On 20 June 2018, the Commission decided that the Engie group had benefited from state aid through two sets of Luxembourg tax rulings (SA.44888). Background Starting in September 2008, Luxembourg issued several tax rulings concerning the tax treatment of two similar financial transactions (...)
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On 19 April 2021, the Commission adopted revised guidelines on national regional aid (the ’Regional Aid Guidelines’). The revised guidelines will enter into force on 1 January 2022. They are the first set of revised state aid rules following the announcement of the European Green Deal and the (...)
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Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 450 "no objections" decisions (decisions in preliminary examination phase) have been adopted by the Commission to approve aid schemes and individual aid notified by Member States (see, in particular, Jacques Derenne, Catalina Chilaru, (...)
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On 10 December 2020, the Court held, on appeal, that the Court of First Instance was entitled to dismiss an action against a Commission decision applying the private investor test to aid granted in the form of increases in the capital of a company responsible for groundhandling at two (...)
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On 24 September 2020, the Court of Justice delivered a preliminary ruling (on a reference from the Berlin Administrative Court) on the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs") within the meaning of Article 3(4) of Annex I to Regulation No 651/2014 declaring certain categories (...)
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On 15 November 2018, the Tribunal delivered several judgements following the World Duty Free judgement of 21 December 2016 (cases C-20/15 P and C-21/15 P - see our commentary in ConcurrencesNo. 1-2017, pp. 153-163.), which had set aside two judgments of the Court of First Instance (Judgments (...)
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A Commission decision did not classify as State aid a series of Slovak measures (capital increase, debt repayment, grants and risk equalisation scheme) in favour of a Slovak health insurance organisation: according to the Commission, this organisation is not an undertaking within the meaning (...)
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Pollmeier Massivholz is a German company that operates several sawmills near the border of the state of Hesse. Background to the case In 2007, the Commission received a complaint from Pollmeier Massivholz alleging unlawful aid to support the establishment of a new sawmill in the Land of (...)
Price
€65.00
Grands arrêts du droit de la concurrence - Contrôle des aides d’Etat
Price
€290.00
Competition Case Law Digest 5th Edition - A Synthesis of US, EU and National Leading Cases
Price
€290.00
2020 Competition Case Law Digest - A Synthesis of EU, US and National Leading Cases
