Margot Vogels focuses on Belgian business law, as well as all aspects of Belgian and EU competition law. Prior to joining Van Bael & Bellis, Margot worked as a trainee in the Food Task Force at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition. Margot also gained experience in competition law during an internship in the Beijing office of an international law firm, as well as during several internships in the Brussels offices of leading international law firms.
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ECJ rules that an undertaking active in a market affected by a merger can intervene in the appeal of a merger clearance decision On 22 February 2022, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) granted telecoms operator Fastweb SpA leave to intervene in Case T-692/20 in support of Iliad Italia (Case (...)
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In its Sped-Pro judgment of 9 February 2022, the General Court of the European Union (“General Court”) for the first time examined the impact of deficiencies in the rule of law in an EU Member State on determining which competition authority in the EU is best placed to examine a complaint (...)
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Gazprom: General Court confirms Commission’s commitment decision but annuls a decision based on similar grounds to reject a complaint against Gazprom On 2 February 2022, the General Court of the European Union (the “Court”) issued two judgments which follow the European Commission’s (the (...)
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On 20 January 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) issued its (short) final report on the sector inquiry into consumer Internet of Things (“Report”), along with an explanatory Commission staff working document. The Report identifies various practices that may limit competition and justify (...)
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In a judgment of 19 January 2022, the General Court of the European Union (“Court”) awarded Deutsche Telekom AG (“DT”) € 1.8 million in damages, finding that the European Commission (“Commission”) had wrongly refused to pay default interest on the portion of a fine that DT had initially paid for an (...)
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On 15 December 2021, the European Parliament (“Parliament”) adopted its position for negotiating the final text of the so-called Digital Markets Act (Regulation on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector)(“DMA”), shortly after the Council of the European Union (“Council”) had adopted its (...)
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On 9 December 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) approved a draft communication containing guidelines on the application of EU competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons (“Draft Guidelines”). The Draft Guidelines reflect the (...)
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On 18 November 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published a communication on a competition policy fit for new challenges (“Communication”). There has been a significant push toward a more European Union-centred industrial policy which would support the transition to a sustainable, (...)
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On 10 November 2021, the European General Court (“EGC” or “Court”) delivered its landmark Google Shopping judgment, the first judicial pronouncement on “self-preferencing” as a viable theory of harm under Article 102 TFEU. The EGC fully endorsed the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision that (...)
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On 15 July 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) handed down a judgment following a request for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Article 7(2) of 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (“Brussels (...)
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On 9 July 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published the draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (“Draft VBER”) and draft revised guidelines on vertical restraints (“Draft VGL”), a key step in the context of the revision of the current regime governing vertical agreements, set (...)
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In the course of the ongoing review of the application of the EU competition rules to horizontal cooperation agreements, the European Commission (“Commission”) published on 7 June 2021 an inception impact assessment (“IIA”) in relation to potential revisions to the Research and Development Block (...)
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In a decision of 7 June 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) accepted a proposed settlement by Google LLC and Google Ireland Ltd (“Google”) with respect to certain online advertising practices. The decision also imposed a € 220 million fine on Google as it concluded that Google’s (...)
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On 28 January 2021, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down a judgment in Case C-466/19 P (Qualcomm Inc. and Qualcomm Europe v. European Commission). Following a complaint submitted in 2010 by Icera Inc., a producer and distributor of soft chipsets which deliver high-performance (...)
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On 15 December 2020, the European Commission (the “Commission”) presented a legislative package consisting of a proposed Regulation on a Single Market for Digital Services (“Digital Services Act” or “DSA”), which creates new rules applicable to providers of online intermediary services, as well as a (...)
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Earlier this year, the European Commission (the “Commission”) proposed a “new competition tool” (“NCT”) to address structural competition problems. Stakeholders could express their views on the need for an NCT and its design as part of an impact assessment and an open consultation until 8 September (...)
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On 28 September 2020, the competition authorities of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland issued a joint memorandum setting out their perspective on competition in digital markets (the “Joint Memorandum”). As previously reported in this newsletter (see, VBB on Competition Law, Volume (...)
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On 24 September 2020, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (the “FCA”) published its final report on the sector inquiry into the taxi and private hire car market (the “Report”). The comprehensive sector inquiry was launched in September 2019 to ascertain the effects of amendments to the (...)
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On 24 September 2020, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) modified its leniency guidelines so that companies that apply for leniency after the opening of a retail price maintenance (“RPM”) investigation should only expect to receive a maximum 50% discount in fines. Previously, the (...)
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On 16 September 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “ECJ”) delivered a judgment in which it ruled on the status of “court or tribunal” within the meaning of Article 267 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union of a body which has submitted a reference for a preliminary (...)
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On 4 June 2020, the Competition Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal (the “Court”) handed down a judgment dismissing the appeal filed by three car repairers (the “Claimants”) against a decision of the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) to reject their complaint against Hyundai Motor France (...)
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