Steven is partner at Ashurst in London. Steven specialises in EU and UK competition law, advising clients in a range of industries on mergers, abuse of dominance, market investigations, cartels and appeals. He has advised on a number of highly significant cases, including the appeals of the largest antitrust fines imposed in the UK (for Imperial Tobacco) and EU (for Intel), the CMA’s phase 2 retail banking investigation (for Lloyds) and a phase 2 merger involving price control remedies (for Imerys).
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On 26 January 2022, the General Court ("GC") partially annulled the European Commission’s decision to impose a EUR 1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing its dominant position ("Decision"). The fine was annulled in full. Applying the principles outlined in the European Court of Justice’s ("ECJ") (...)
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On 31 August 2021, the CMA launched a public consultation on the settlement chapter of its ’Guidance on the CMA’s investigation procedures in Competition Act 1998 cases’ (the "Guidance"). The amendments would require that, as a condition of settlement, businesses under investigation will not (...)
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The judgment was handed down by the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") in the paroxetine pay-for-delay case in 2018. However, the CAT decided to wait for a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") on certain questions before determining the remaining grounds of appeal. (...)
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Introduction A new national security new regime On 29 April 2021, the UK National Security and Investment Act ("Act") received Royal Assent. When brought into force, which is not expected until late 2021, the Act will significantly strengthen the UK Government’s powers to investigate and (...)
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On 7 April 2021, the Digital Markets Unit ("DMU") was launched within the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA"). The DMU will, in the future, be tasked with oversight of the UK’s new digital regulatory regime, with powers and duties enshrined in legislation. Key takeaways The DMU has (...)
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The Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") has disqualified five directors in relation to two separate construction cartels. Three of the directors were disqualified following an investigation by the CMA into two of the UK’s largest suppliers of rolled lead roofing materials, Associated Lead (...)
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On 10 March 2021, the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum ("DRCF") published its first annual plan of work for 2021/22. The plan of work establishes a road map for how the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA"), the Office of Communications ("Ofcom") and the Information Commissioner’s (...)
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On 9 February 2021, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") published a ’refresh’ of its Digital Markets Strategy, which was first published in July 2019. The updated strategy takes into account recent policy developments, including the forthcoming launch of the Digital Markets Unit (...)
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In October 2019, the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") imposed fines totalling £36 million on three Northern Irish concrete producers, including FP McCann ("FPM"), for participating in a cartel in relation to the supply of concrete drainage products between July 2006 and March 2013 (see (...)
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On 26 November 2020, the European Commission ("Commission") announced that it had fined the pharmaceutical companies Teva and Cephalon EUR 60.5 million for agreeing to delay for several years the market entry of a cheaper generic version of Cephalon’s drug for sleep disorders, modafinil, after (...)
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On 19 November 2020, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") announced that it had issued an infringement decision finding that the price comparison website ComparetheMarket infringed Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101 TFEU as a result of the use of wide (...)
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On 13 November 2020, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") published its judgment in relation to the merger of JD Sports and Footasylum. The merger was prohibited by the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") in May, but JD Sports appealed. The CAT partially upheld the appeal and the (...)
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On 6 November 2020, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") ordered FNZ to sell GBST, having concluded that the acquisition raised significant competition concerns in the supply of software and services which enable retail investment platforms in the UK. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW - KEY (...)
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Lower notification thresholds under UK merger control for certain additional sectors impacting national security entered into force on 21 July. The lower thresholds now cover transactions related to the development, production, supply or research of: artificial intelligence (new) cryptographic (...)
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Sector inquiry launched into the Internet of Things On 16 July 2020, the European Commission ("Commission") launched an antitrust competition inquiry into the sector of Internet of Things ("IoT") for consumer-related products and services in the EU. The inquiry complements other actions (...)
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The first competition disqualification order to come to trial has resulted in a company director, Michael Martin, being disqualified for seven years. In its judgment of 7 July 2020, the UK High Court found that Mr Martin had contributed to Gary Berryman Estate Agents’ breach of competition law (...)
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On 1 July 2020, the UK Competition & Markets Authority ("CMA") published its final report following a 12-month market study into online platforms and digital advertising in the UK (the "Final Report"). The Final Report concludes that, due to the dynamic nature of digital advertising, (...)
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Introduction In the light of the global outbreak of Covid-19, contracting authorities will need to procure goods, services and works in truly exceptional circumstances and, potentially, their requirements will be extremely urgent. Therefore, contracting authorities may have legitimate reasons (...)
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This article outlines the key changes made to the UK competition regime following the enactment of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which provided for the merger of the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission to form the new Competition and Markets Authority. The authors (...)
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This article outlines the key changes made to the UK competition regime following the enactment of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which provided for the merger of the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission to form the new Competition and Markets Authority. The authors (...)
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