Denis is Head of Office of Ashurst Brussels and partner in the Competition and EU Law department. His practice focuses on all aspects of Italian and EU antitrust law. Denis has 20 years’ experience in advising leading European corporates in relation to behavioural and merger control cases. He also has significant experience in assisting companies in State Aid investigations. Denis regularly represents clients before both the European Commission and national competition authorities in Italy, Belgium, etc. as well as the EU General Court and Court of Justice in antitrust and other EU law proceedings. He acts for leading clients in several industry sectors, such as energy, financial services, pharmaceutical and automotive.
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In its decision of 28 April 2021, the Belgian Competition Authority ("BCA") considered that the commitments offered by Carrefour and Provera under the purchase alliance probe were proportionate and suitable to address potential restrictions of competition. Following Carrefour’s divestment offer, (...)
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On 25 April 2021, the Italian Government submitted its Recovery and Resilience National Plan ("PNRR") to the national Parliament, which included proposals on competition law reform by the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA"). Key takeaways Reforming competition law is among the priorities of (...)
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On 26 March 2021, the European Commission ("Commission") published a Staff Working Document that summarises the findings of its evaluation of procedural and jurisdictional aspects of EU merger control. The Commission has also adopted a communication providing guidance on the application of the (...)
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On 25 February 2021, the European Court of Justice handed down a preliminary ruling on the division of competences between national competition authorities ("NCA"s) and the Commission in the context of concurrent proceedings, also providing guidance on the application of the rules on double (...)
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On 12 December 2020, Italy’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, upheld the annulment of the Italian Competition Authority’s ("ICA") decision to fine broadcasters Mediaset and Sky Italia, the Italian Football League, and marketing agency Infront a total of €66m for an alleged (...)
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On 27 October 2020 the Italian Competition Authority ("AGCM") issued a EUR 27 million fine to the Italian Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Recovery of Plastic Packaging (COREPLA) for abusing its dominant position in the Italian market for management of plastic waste services. WHAT (...)
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On 21 October 2020 the Italian Administrative Court of First Instance ("TAR Lazio") annulled the decision issued by the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") on 20 December 2018 sanctioning a number of car manufacturers and their "captive banks" in relation to an alleged cartel concerning car (...)
50
On 11 October 2020, Regulation (EU) 2019/452 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (the "FDI Regulation") became fully applicable. In the 18 months since the FDI Regulation was enacted, the Regulation and the European Commission’s ("Commission") (...)
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On 24 September 2020, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") fully dismissed an appeal brought by Prysmian, therefore upholding the European Commission’s ("Commission") decision to fine Prysmian EUR 104.6 million for taking part in an international power-cable cartel. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW - KEY (...)
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On 15 September 2020 the Italian Competition Authority ("AGCM") fined three companies active in the production and distribution of energy for failure to notify a concentration before its closing, rejecting the parties’ claim that the concentration was interdependent on a second transaction that (...)
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On 3 September 2020, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") ruled that a restriction imposed by an Italian law on acquisitions in the broadcasting and audiovisual sectors is contrary to the fundamental EU law principle of the freedom of establishment enshrined in Article 49 of the Treaty on the (...)
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Fines for ethylene purchasing cartel On 14 July 2020, the European Commission ("Commission") fined ethylene purchasers Orbia, Clariant and Celanese EUR 260 million for having colluded and exchanged information on purchase prices on the ethylene merchant market with a fourth participant, (...)
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On 1 June 2020, the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") approved a joint purchasing agreement of surgical masks via pharmacies/drugstores and a moratorium scheme on loan repayments agreed within ASSOFIN (the Italian Association of Consumer Credit and Mortgage Lending) pursuant to its (...)
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On 28 May 2020, the Italian Administrative Supreme Court ("CoS") reinstated remedies imposed by the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA" or "Authority") to mitigate the effects of the acquisition by Sky Italia Holding S.p.A. ("Sky") of certain assets of the digital terrestrial Pay-TV owned by (...)
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On 14 May 2020, the European Court of Justice (the "ECJ") partially quashed the General Court’s (the "GC") judgment upholding the European Commission’s ("Commission") power cables cartel decision with respect to NKT and its wholly owned subsidiary NKT Verwaltungs (together "NKT" or the (...)
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While some businesses may choose to delay transactions in light of Covid-19, many transactions will clearly continue and some of these will need to be completed with some urgency, in particular in cases of financial distress. Merger control regimes are still in operation, although there have been some changes, in particular to encourage parties to delay notifications. This note considers how merger control processes can best be navigated in times of crisis, for example, where the urgent completion of a transaction may be required, or the target is otherwise in significant financial difficulty.
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On 2 April 2020, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") delivered its judgment in Budapest Bank on a reference for a preliminary ruling from Hungary’s highest court. The judgment confirms the important limitations that apply before competition authorities and courts are able classify (...)
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On 6 March 2020, the European Commission ("Commission") cleared the proposed acquisition of joint control over INWIT by Telecom Italia ("TIM") and Vodafone in case M.9674, combining the parties’ Italian telecommunications tower holdings as part of their 5G roll-out plan. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW - (...)
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On 4 March 2020, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") dismissed the appeal made by Norwegian seafood company Marine Harvest against a 2017 ruling of the General Court ("GC") confirming the European Commission ("Commission") 2014 decision fining Norwegian seafood company Marine Harvest for (...)
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On 21 January 2020, the Council of State (Italy’s Administrative Highest Court) handed down its judgment upholding the annulment of the Italian Competition Authority’s ("ICA") decision of 19 July 2017 which had fined eight Italian steel producers for an alleged price-fixing cartel, based on the (...)
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1. Introduction* De minimis non curat praetor (the judge does not deal with trivial matters) was already the rule in Roman law around 2,000 years ago. So why would e-competitions care about de minimis to such a point that it is dedicating a full issue to the question? In truth, the question of (...)
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Background The judgement in comment (Judgement of TAR of Lazio n. 6171 of 11 July 2011) has annulled the final decision of the Italian Antitrust Authority ("IAA") of 3 November 2010 ("IAA Decision") which closed the proceeding against Mastercard and eight Italian banks ( the "Parties") and (...)
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Introduction On 20 April 2011, the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") adopted a decision closing the investigation launched in May 2010 against nine oil companies, Alma Petroli S.p.A., Api-Anonima Petroli Italiana S.p.A., ERG Petroli S.p.A., Eni S.p.A., Esso Italiana S.r.l., IES-Italiana (...)
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Background On March 24, 2010, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) issued its first cartel decision based on a leniency application, approximately 3 years after the ICA officially adopted its Leniency Program. The case concerns a ten-year cartel between the three main Italian suppliers of (...)
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Background With two decisions issued on 22 April 2009, the Italian Administrative Tribunal (Tribunale Amministrativo Regonale, “TAR”) ruled on the power of the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) to accept commitments offered by undertakings under investigation for alleged anticompetitive (...)
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Background On 5 March 2009, the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, “AGCM”) launched an investigation for possible violation of Article 82 EC and Article 3 of Law 10 October 1990 n° 287 (corresponding to Article 82 EC) by Saint-Gobain Ppc Italia S.p.A. (...)
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Background On 26 February 2009, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) fined 26 pasta producers active in Italy (representing approximately 90% of the overall relevant market) and two associations of undertakings claiming that they had entered into an agreement aimed at increasing the prices (...)
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Background On 29 January 2009, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) cleared the acquisition of the sole control of Castorama Italia S.p.A. (“Castorama”) by the French company Groupe Adeo S.A. (“Adeo”), both active in the retail sale of “do-it-yourself” (“DIY”) products. The merger met the (...)
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Background On 20 September 2007, the ICA opened a proceeding regarding car assistance services provided in Italy on motorways, alleging that a) the motorways companies had breached Article 3 of Law 287/90 (national provision similar to art. 82 EC) and b) the roadside assistance providers, (...)
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Background By decision of 21 May 2008, the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) fined Parmalat S.p.A. (“Parmalat”, one of the major Italian players in the milk and dairy sector) for not having complied with the measures imposed by a previous merger decision. The peculiarity of this case is linked (...)
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Background On 24 October 2007, the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato) fined two leading producers of autoclaved cellular concrete (ACC), namely Xella International GmbH (Xella) and RDB S.p.A. (RDB) alleging that they had entered into some form of (...)
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Introduction On 3 August 2007, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) adopted a decision fining four ostomy device manufacturers for an alleged bid rigging. The decision is interesting as it shows the difficulty that pharmaceutical companies face when participating in a tender procedure. In (...)
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Background ABI is a non-profit association to which nearly all Italian banks belong. In August 2006, the Italian Banking Law (Legislative Decree n° 385/1993) was amended by Law n° 248/2006. Art. 10 of Law n° 248/2006, which lays down provisions that banks have to respect when changing (...)
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Background By decision of 15 June 2005, the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato) cleared the acquisition by Koninklijke Numico N.V. (Numico) of Mellin S.p.A. (Mellin). The concentration affected the baby milk sector which the Authority’s investigations (...)
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Background On 16 November 2004, the Italian Competition Authority(Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) has imposed a fine of € 152 million on the incumbent telecommunication operator Telecom Italia S.p.A. (Telecom Italia), for abusive behaviours on the fixed network (...)
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Background With decision n. 13459 of 29 July 2004, the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, hereinafter “Authority”) has imposed a fine of € 95 million on Tetra Pak International S.A. (“Tetra Pak”), the global leader in the manufacture of packaging for (...)
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Background On 29 April 2004, the Italian Antitrust Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) cleared the acquisition by the national public broadcaster, Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A. (Rai), of 11 going concerns composed of 84 digital broadcasting networks, including the (...)
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Background Following a specific request by the parties, the Italian Antitrust Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato), at its meeting on 12 June 2003, decided to revoke the conditions originally imposed on Premafin Finanziaria S.p.A. (Premafin) and Mediobanca Banca di (...)
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Background With decision n. 8491 of 13 July 2000, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (Italian Competition Authority, hereinafter “Authority”) found the existence of a market sharing arrangement carried out within the Consorzio Industrie Fiammiferi (the consortium of the Italian (...)
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Background On 13 November 1997 the ICA issued its first decision regarding the compatibility of a franchise contract with the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements. The agreement which was assessed by the ICA regarded the franchising network set up by Il Tucano Franchising for the retail (...)
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Several contributions lodged within the framework of the public consultation on a possible review of Regulation 1/2003 have claimed, sometimes vigorously, that the European Commission should seek to reform Regulation 1/2003 in a manner that does not only focus on strengthening the powers of the (...)
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Mathias TRAUB, head of the antitrust department at one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers, discusses his work as an-house counsel, the challenges of this position and notably, how it differs from his previous experience in private practice. Interview conducted by Denis Fosselard, (...)
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2015 Competition Case Law Digest - A Synthesis of EU and National Leading Cases
This second edition of the Digest is enriched with a selection of more than 50 essays on European competition cases from the 27 European Union Member States, EU law, and US law. Each essay (...)
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