Assimakis Komninos
White & Case (Brussels)
Lawyer (Partner)
Dr Assimakis Komninos is a Partner at the Brussels office of White & Case LLP. He is also a visiting fellow of the Centre for Law and Governance in Europe at University College London (UCL) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC) at the College of Europe. Dr Komninos has acted in a number of landmark cases before the European Courts and the European Commission, such as Microsoft (compulsory licensing), Google Shopping (self-favoring), Rambus (excessive pricing), GlaxoSmithKline (parallel trade of pharmaceuticals), Greek lignites (public undertakings) and has also represented clients before a number of European competition authorities, courts and arbitration tribunals. He also successfully represented Aegean Airlines in Aegean/Olympic II, which resulted in the European Commission clearing the deal in a Phase II proceeding. This was the first time that the Commission cleared a merger after it had previously prohibited it. He is recognised as a leading lawyer for competition/European law by Chambers Global in 2015-2020, by Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – Competition 2019 and is listed in Who’s Who Legal: Competition (2014-2020) and Who’s Who Legal: Life Sciences (2015-2020). He has published more than 80 books, articles, contributions and case notes in the area of EU law and holds a summa cum laude law degree from the University of Athens, an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), an LL.M. from New York University, and a Ph.D. from the European University Institute. He is a member of the Brussels (E-list) and Athens Bars (Supreme Court). He is a former Commissioner and Member of the Board of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) (2009-2011). He is currently a non-governmental advisor (NGA) to the International Competition Network (ICN).
Distinctions
Nominee, 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Procedure
Nominee, 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct
Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct
Nominee, 2019 Antitrust Writing Awards: Academic, Unilateral Conduct
Nominee, 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Unilateral Conduct
Nominee, 2017 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Cross-Border Issues
Nominee, 2016 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Procedure
Nominee, 2015 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Mergers
Winner, 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, Private Enforcement
Nominee, 2013 Antitrust Writing Awards: Business, General Antitrust
Linked authors
Marc Israel
White & Case (London)
Jan Jeram
White & Case (Brussels)
Jérémie Jourdan
White & Case (Brussels)
Aqeel Kadri
White & Case (London)
James Killick
White & Case (Brussels)
1636 | Conferences
Articles
18310 Bulletin
306
On 25 March 2021, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") dismissed all the appeals against the European Commission’s decision to fine Lundbeck and several other companies for entering into anti-competitive patent settlement agreements. The judgments largely repeat the position taken by the ECJ (...)
175
On 10 March 2020 the Court of Appeal upheld the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT) quashing of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision that Pfizer and Flynn Pharma (Flynn) had abused their dominant positions in the market by pricing their epilepsy drug unfairly. Among other (...)
503
This article has been nominated for the 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. The CMA Remicade decision: discount schemes and abuse of dominance – effects matter!* Summary On 14 March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) (...)
573
This article has been nominated for the 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. EU Court confirms the need for transparency and full disclosure of economic analyses in EU merger cases (UPS/TNT)* On 16 January 2019, the Court of Justice of (...)
484
I. Introduction In the last couple of years, there has been a trend for antitrust watchdogs around the world to investigate excessive pricing, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. Last year, the European Commission opened its first investigation into excessive pricing in the pharmaceutical (...)
694
This article has been nominated for the 2018 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. On 6 September 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU" or "Court") essentially held in Intel that the European Commission ("Commission") cannot (...)
212
1. Background In its decision dated 23/6/2015 the Cypriot Commission for the Protection of Competition (the “CPC”) held that the operator of the Larnaca and Paphos international Airports in Cyprus, Hermes Airports Ltd, (hereafter referred as “Hermes”) violated Section 6(1)(a) of the Cyprus Law on (...)
776
On 5 March 2015, the European Court of Justice (CoJ) handed down its judgment in Versalis , concerning the increasing of fines for antitrust infringements where a company is found to be a repeat offender. The judgment raises important questions about the respect for the rights of defence in EU (...)
215
Class Actions: Now in Belgium*Class actions are a hot topic in Europe, and elsewhere. Various European countries have introduced, or are in the process of introducing, class action mechanisms. At the European Union level a similar development is noticeable, with proposals both in the field of (...)
211
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 under EU (...)
514
White Paper on damages actions for breach of EC antitrust rules. What Does It Mean For Business? The White Paper brushes aside fears expressed in the business world and among practitioners about the import into Europe of a US-style mixture of aggressive class actions and treble damages and (...)
3120
On August 2005, a new Act was passed amending the Greek Competition Act n° 703 of 1977, which itself has been amended in the past on numerous occasions. The main objective of Law 3373/2005 was to reshuffle Greek competition law and essentially to respond to the new context of competition law (...)
10526
On 31 May 2005 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered its judgment in Case C-53/03, Syfait and others v. GlaxoSmithKline AEVE and GlaxoSmithKline plc (“Syfait”), which raises the question of whether a dominant pharmaceutical undertaking is under a duty to supply unlimited quantities of (...)
34118 Review
1334
As the European Commission is preparing its proposal for a ’New Competition Tool’, we look at the legal, Institutional and policy Implications of such a tool. We examine questions of legal basis, substantive standard of Intervention, procedural design and judicial review and the role of EU (...)
868
The first roundtable of the conference held in Paris, the 13th May 2014 on the recovery of antitrust harm was dedicated to the antitrust harm in foreign legal systems. Michele CARPAGNANO Professor, University of Trento Co-Director, Osservatorio Antitrust Knut PROVIDER Research Associate, (...)
1705
The existence and application of the so-called "efficiency defence" in Article 102 TFEU has been an issue of serious contention over the last years. The 2009 Guidance Paper gave new impetus to the notion. The articles below provide an EU and a national perspective. The existence, legitimacy and (...)
2844
The "reasonably-efficient operator test" is a general test used for pricing strategies of dominant firms by the European Commission. Contributions of this "Trends" present this test in various areas of competition law. The importance of this test has recently been underlined by the Court of (...)
1619
1. Makis, you have been a Commissioner and Member of the Board of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) for a year and a half, having left Brussels and an international law firm. Do you miss the life of a practitioner in Brussels? 2. Can you describe your work at the HCC? 3. Greece has (...)
6833
What are the consequences for business of the Commission’s Communication on Article 82 of the Treaty? Does it make the Commission’s action more predictable? Does the use of a wide range of economic criteria reduce the risk that pro-competitive practices by dominant companies will be considered (...)
7213
One of the most significant parameters that framed EC competition policy towards vertical restraints has been the importance of market integration in Europe. The recent saga of cases on parallel imports of pharmaceuticals brought under Articles 81 and 82 EC in national and Community courts (...)
6138
La Commission européenne a publié début avril 2008 son Livre blanc sur les actions en dommages et intérêts pour infraction aux règles communautaires sur les ententes et les abus de position dominante. Le Livre blanc présente un certain nombre de propositions spécifiques qui permettront de faciliter en (...)
5562
The European Commission tends to refer more and more to the Lisbon Agenda in various competition policy documents. The authors are of the opinion that such a tendancy is contrary to the objectives of the competition policy. Recently, in some of its official communications on Community (...)
Books
Price
230€00
Ian Forrester - A Scot Without Borders Liber Amicorum Vol. II
This two-volume Liber amicorum is a collection of tributes to Ian Forrester’s outstanding career and articles signed by prominent academics and practitioners around the world on the most current (...)
Date
1 December 2015
Price
230€00
Price
220€00
Ian Forrester - A Scot Without Borders Liber Amicorum Vol. I
This two-volume Liber amicorum is a collection of tributes to Ian Forrester’s outstanding career and articles signed by prominent academics and practitioners around the world on the most current (...)
Date
23 September 2015
Price
220€00
2013 Competition Case Law Digest - A Synthesis of EU and National Leading Cases
The purpose of this book is to compare and contrast EU competition case law with European Members States competition case law, and Members States competition case law with each other. To the best (...)
Date
12 December 2012
