Parliament, European; of the European Union, Council

Business secrets

Institution Definition

According to article 2 of the Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure : "‘trade secret’ means information which meets all of the following requirements: (a) it is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question; (b) it has commercial value because it is secret; (c) it has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the person lawfully in control of the information, to keep it secret" © European Parliament and Council of the European Union

Articles

Geneviève Rigolot, Pascal Wilhelm Disclosure and business secrecy (3rd Private Enforcement Conference: The current state of private enforcement in the EU and France - Paris Court of Appeal, March 28th, 2019)

September 2019

Practices of the Commercial Court of Paris with regard to the search for evidence Geneviève Rigolot President, Chamber of Competition, Paris Commercial Court For a long time, the Paris Commercial Court has endeavored to improve the procedures by which a litigant can search for the necessary (...)

Wouter Wils Legal professional privilege in EU antitrust enforcement: Law, policy & procedure

February 2019

This paper discusses the law, policy and procedure of legal professional privilege in EU antitrust enforcement. It focuses primarily on the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU by the European Commission, but also touches briefly on the enforcement of EU antitrust law by the competition (...)

Florian Wagner-von Papp, Frank Kroes, Jochen Bernhard, Laurence Idot, Marcella Negri Disclosure of documents that lie in the control of the parties (Implementation of the EU Damages Directive into Member State law - Würzburg, May 5, 2017)

September 2017

Article 5 of the Damages Directive requires Member States to enable courts to order disclosure of evidence under certain qualifying conditions, while protecting the rights of parties and third parties, in particular confidential information. This is an area in which common law jurisdictions and (...)

Gary Zanfagna, Richard G. Parker Gary Zanfagna (Honeywell): Antitrust compliance from the inside

September 2017

In this interview, Gary Zanfagna talks about his experience as Chief Antitrust Counsel and Associate General Counsel of Honeywell International, and notably about the antitrust issues of a global acting company. Interview conducted by Richard G. Parker, O’Melveny & Myers, Washington. (...)

Chris Wall, Jennifer E. Mellott The effects of increased globalization and regulator coordination on antitrust discovery

February 2017

Merger review processes for complex, multinational deals have become significantly more complicated over the past 20 years. Increased coordination among competition authorities around the world creates new considerations for parties to multinational deals, requiring them to balance the need to (...)

Alexander Italianer, Bruno Lasserre, Louis Vogel, Marc Jaeger Exchange of confidential information in private competition law enforcement (10 ans d’application du règlement 1/2003 et de la loi luxembourgeoise relative à la concurrence, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, 6 juin 2014)

December 2014

This collection of articles broaches the sensitive topic regarding exchange of confidential information in private competition law enforcement. Issues deriving from this subject were tackled at the roundtable moderated by the President of the EU General Court, M. Marc Jaeger, on the occasion (...)

Frank Gentin, Muriel Chagny Frank Gentin (French Commercial Court) : Commercial judge, natural judge of the competition litigation

December 2014

Interview conducted by Muriel Chagny, University Versailles-Saint-Quentin en Yvelines. 1. The court over which you preside has just held its first Competition Forum on 12 September 2014. What were the objectives? What were the lessons learned? Over the last 10 years, the decisions of the (...)

Thomas Sely Internal investigations : Keeping data and risk under control

February 2014

Internal investigations may include an electronic documents review component to better detect corporate wrongdoings such as anti-competitive behavior. However, in France and other European countries, handling corporate electronic data may raise many issues related to labor law, privacy and data (...)

Alain Ronzano Competition journals: Nov. 2005 - Oct. 2006

May 2006

Elie Raimond, Philippe-Emmanuel Partsch State of competition law in Luxembourg further to the 2011 reform

December 2013

Le développement d’une culture de la concurrence est récent au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg et remonte pour ainsi dire au règlement (CE) 1/2003. Il a dans un premier temps été freiné par des conflits entre les deux entités instituées pour appliquer le droit de la concurrence, l’Inspection et le Conseil de (...)

Alain Ronzano, Bastien Thomas, Christelle Adjémian, Emmanuel Frot, Mathilde Brabant Competition journals: April - June 2013

September 2013

1. General - Scope of application The ambivalence of the aims and technical instruments of competition law > J.-P. CHAZAL, T. PICOT and D. WAKED (Cah. dr. entr., May 2013, n° 3, Interview, p. 0) Focusing on the ambivalence of the aims and technical instruments of competition law, this round (...)

Bernard Amory, David Tayar, Nadine Mouy, Nathalie Jalabert-Doury, Serge Clerckx The pre-notification phase

December 2012

The pre-notification phase has proved to be a useful mean to address “upfront” many of the issues that a concentration may raise, without being bound by the strict timetable of the formal review process. It works well but there is arguably still some room for improvement. The pre-notification (...)

Alain Ronzano, Bastien Thomas, Christelle Adjémian, Emmanuel Frot Competition journals: July - Sept. 2012

December 2012

1. General - Scope of application Moody’s note: the agricultural sector in the face of competition law, a topic for the campaign? , L. Givry and P. Guibert (RLDA May 2012, 71, No. 4044, p. 80) The advisory function of the Competition Authority, a new regulatory instrument? M. BAZEX (D. Adm., (...)

Anne Krenzer, David Bosco, Pablo Amador, Philippe Rincazaux How to deal with a leniency request ?

September 2012

The French leniency program has been in effect for over a decade, as in the Netherlands. Yet, some issues concerning the application of these original procedures still remain. What is, in practice, their role in the fight against secret cartels? Which requirements of cooperation burden on (...)

Alain Ronzano, Bastien Thomas, Christelle Adjémian, Emmanuel Frot Competition journals: Jan. - March 2012

May 2012

1. General - Scope of application Pay television and competition law, an eventful recent history, F. AMIEL (RLC 2011/29, No. 1954, P. 94) At a time when the Competition Authority is examining the future of pay-TV in the context of the in-depth examination of the acquisition of TPS and (...)

Miranda Aldrich de Savorgnani, Rein Wesseling The legal professional privilege after the 2010 Akzo judgment

February 2011

L’arrêt AKZO de la Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne du 14 septembre 2010 confirme la jurisprudence relative au champ d’application du legal privilege. La correspondance du juriste d’entreprise n’est pas protégée dans le cadre de la procédure communautaire de la concurrence. Selon la Cour de justice, (...)

Alain Ronzano, Christelle Adjémian, Umberto Berkani Competition journals: Oct. - Dec. 2010

February 2011

1. General - Scope of application Quelques perspectives après Lisbonne, Y. BOT (JCP éd. G, n° 52, Dec. 21, 2010, Libres propos, 580, p. 9) Misunderstood Administrative Authorities (IAA), M.-A. FRISON-ROCHE (JCP éd. G, n° 48, Nov. 29, 2010, Libres propos, 1166, p. 2206) Competition Law: 2009 in (...)

Frédéric Puel Exchange of information and M&A under the aegis of competition authorities

December 2010

The preparation and implementation of a merger or acquisition necessarily entails that the parties to that planned transaction share information with a view to defining the terms and assessing the interest of their agreement. By sharing a certain type of information that is considered as (...)

Alain Ronzano, Christophe Lemaire, Virginie Beaumeunier Virginie Beaumeunier (French Competition Authority): A new General Rapporteur for the French Competition Authority

May 2009

Could you briefly describe your career path? What in your experience at the DGCCRF seems to you to be of use to the Competition Authority? How do you intend to put into practice the prerogative granted to the Authority’s General Rapporteur to take the lead in investigations initiated by the (...)

A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P R S T U V

A

Absolute territorial protection • Abuse of dominant position • Abuse of economic dependence • Access to essential facility • Access to information • Access to the file • Agency agreement • Agent • Agreement (notion) • Amicus curiae • Ancillary restraints • Annulment • Anticompetitive objet or effect • Anticompetitive practices • Applicable law • Arbitration • Article 11 letter • Automotive distribution

B

Barriers to entry • Bid rigging • Black cause • Block exemption (Regulation) • Boycott • Brand competition • Burden of proof • Business secrets • Buyer power

C

Cartel • Clearance phase I (merger) • Clearance phase II (merger) • Collecting society • Collective dominance • Collective redress (class action) • Comity • Competence • Competition policy • Competition policy • Complaint • Compliance programme • Compulsory license • Concerted practices • Concession • Concurrent jurisdiction • Consumers protection • Consumers’ associations • Contract • Control (change) • Control (notion) • Cooperation Agreement • Cooperation between competition authorities • Coordinated effects • Copyright • Corporate group • Corruption • Cost-based access • Criminal sanctions • Cross subsidisation

D

Damages • Dawn raids • De minimis notice • Direct effect • Discriminatory practices • Distribution agreement • Dominance (notion)

E

ECHR • Economic analysis • Economic efficiency • Economies of scale • Effect on trade between Member States • Effective judicial protection • Environmental protection • Essential facility • European Competition Network (ECN) • Excess prices • Exchanges of information • Exclusive distribution • Exclusive purchasing • Exclusive right (Art. 106 TFEU) • Exclusivity clause • Exhaustion • Extra-territoriality

F

Failing firm defence • Fidelity rebates • Fine • Fine mitigating • Foreign direct investment (FDI) • Franchising • FRAND • Free riding

G

Geographic market • Group purchasing organization • Gun jumping

H

Hard core restrictions • Hearing officer • Horizontal agreement

I

Independence and impartiality • Individual exemption • Intellectual property right • Inter-brand competition • Interim measures • International co-operation • International competition network (ICN) • Investigations / inquiries

J

Joint control • Joint venture • Judicial review

L

Legal privilege • Leniency • Lerner index • Letter of rejection of complaints • Licensing • Limitation period • Low prices

M

Mandatary (distribution) • Margin squeeze • Market economy investor • Market power • Market share • Media pluralism • Merger (notion) • Merger (prohibition) • Merger (withdrawal) • Merger control procedure • Merger remedies • Minority shareholdings • Misinformation • Misinformation

N

Ne bis in idem • Network effect • Non-competition clause • Notification • Nullity

O

Oligopoly

R

Referral (merger) • Refusal to deal • Regulated prices • Regulation • Relevant market • Remedies (antitrust) • Request for information • Resale price maintenance (RPM) • Resale-below-cost • Right against self-incrimination • Rights of defence • Rule of reason

S

Sector inquiry • Selective distribution • Services of general economic interest • Single branding • Sole control • Spill-over effects • Standard-Essential Patent (SEP) • State action defense • State aid (compatibility) • State aid (existing aid) • State aid (notification) • State aid (notion) • State aid (recovery) • State aid (tax ruling) • State aid (unlawful aid) • State measure • Substitutability • Sudden break of established business relationships

T

Test SIEC (merger) • Test SLC (merger) • Transfer of technology • Transfer pricing • Transparency • Trustee (mergers) • Turnover threshold (merger) • Two-sided market • Tying or tied selling

U

Undertaking (notion) • Unfair competition • Universal service • Upstream market

V

Vertical agreement • Vertical restraints (or restrictions)