Laura van Kruijsdijk is an associate with Covington based in their Brussels office. She advises national and international companies from a wide variety of industries on all aspects of international, European and Belgian antitrust law, including multi-jurisdictional merger control, cartel and leniency issues, abuse of dominance cases and compliance.
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Belgium introduced an FDI screening mechanism anticipated to enter into force on July 1, 2023, adding yet another jurisdiction in the EU which has adopted national measures to implement the EU’s FDI Regulation (EU) 2019/452. The new Belgian regime may place additional compliance obligations on (...)
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More than 25 years after the adoption of the first European Commission Leniency Notice, the fight against cartels remains at the top of the European Commission’s (“Commission”) priorities, and the 27 European Union (“EU”) national competition authorities (“NCAs” or “CAs”). The economy is facing significant challenges as it needs to recover from the deep crisis caused by the pandemic. That recovery must also be in a way that is consistent with a greener and digital future. In light thereof, the Commission considers it is more important than ever that markets work fairly and well, and that it will take firm action to tackle cartels. Leniency programmes are a crucial tool for uncovering cartels. Historically, a large majority of cartel decisions adopted by European competition authorities is based on immunity and leniency applications. The number of leniency applications is however decreasing. The increasing cost and risk associated with obtaining immunity from different jurisdictions around the world, together with the private enforcement risk, seems to disincentive companies from applying for leniency. The Commission is increasing its focus on the operation of the leniency programme, and has launched regular discussions with business and other competition enforcers to get their views and share experiences.
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On 9 December 2021, Advocate General (“AG”) Rantos delivered his Opinion in Servizio Elettrico Nazionale (Case C‑377/20), a request for a preliminary ruling from the Italian Consiglio di Stato. The case concerns the conduct of the ENEL Group (“ENEL”) in the context of the liberalisation of the (...)
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On 23 July 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted an extension of the scope of the General Block Exemption Regulation (“GBER”). The revised rules concern: Aid for projects funded via certain EU centrally managed programs under the new Multiannual Financial Framework; and (...)
