


Daniel Vowden
Daniel Vowden is a Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP in the Brussels office. He advises international clients on the full spectrum of EU and UK competition law matters and in relation to foreign direct investment controls, including approvals under the UK National Security and Investment Act. Daniel has acted on complex and challenging UK merger control cases and many high-profile, cross-border deals requiring international regulatory approvals. Daniel’s transactional expertise is balanced with in-depth experience of behavioural and advisory matters, including EU and UK cartel investigations, with a particular focus on the pharmaceuticals, financial services, mining, TMT, and retail sectors. Daniel speaks regularly at antitrust conferences in Brussels and London and has been published in a range of specialist journals. He is the editor of Herbert Smith Freehills’ quarterly update on EMEA-wide cartel developments, Cartel Intel, and is a contributor to Global Competition Review’s Foreign Direct Investment Regulation Guide. As a member of the European Competition Law Forum, Daniel has led or contributed to policy papers on the UK hold separate merger rules, EU proposed controls on foreign subsidies and reforms to the application of Article 22 EU Merger Regulation. Daniel is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and is admitted to the Brussels bar (A-list).
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Articles
12930 Bulletin
31
On 20 April 2023 the European Commission published a package of measures aimed at simplifying its merger control procedures under the EU merger Regulation (EUMR). The new measures, which will take effect as of 1 September 2023, aim to streamline and make less burdensome the Commission’s merger (...)
4
On 27 March 2023, the European Commission (Commission) announced its intention to adopt detailed new guidelines on the application of Article 102 TFEU to exclusionary conduct. The Commission explained that “Article 102 TFEU is one of the few areas of European competition law where no Guidelines (...)
295
INTRODUCTION On 16 March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its keenly anticipated judgment in Towercast(Judgment), following a request for a preliminary ruling by the Court of Appeal, Paris (Court of Appeal). The Judgment clarifies that acquisitions by dominant (...)
520
On 8 February 2023, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) issued a joint judgment in two cases : BMW AG v CMA and R (on the application of VW AG) v CMA, relating to the territorial scope of the CMA’s information gathering powers under Section 26 of the Competition Act 1998 (CA98). The CAT (...)
31
The EU’s groundbreaking Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force on 1 November 2022 and applies from 2 May 2023. In this update we summarise key developments : the Implementing Regulation, institutional changes in DG COMP, workshops, and national proposals granting National Competition (...)
53
Seeking to clarify its policy and encourage leniency applicants to come forward, the European Commission ("Commission") has published new guidance on its approach to leniency and its Leniency Notice. The new guidance comes in the form of Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs"). The FAQs provide (...)
147
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a ground-breaking piece of EU regulation, imposing rules on platforms acting as “gatekeepers” in the digital sector, and aiming to ensure fairness and contestability in digital markets. It will enter into force on 1 November 2022, setting the clock running for (...)
759
On 6 September 2022 the EU Commission adopted a decision under the EU merger Regulation (EUMR) prohibiting the completed acquisition by Illumina of GRAIL. This is the first time the Commission has examined a transaction below the EUMR thresholds and all national EU Member State thresholds (...)
91
On 1 September 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) published the Second Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments (“FDI”) into the European Union (available here), and the accompanying Commission Staff Working Document (available here), pursuant to the annual reporting (...)
168
In its judgment of 13 July 2022 the General Court endorsed the EU Commission’s revised approach to Article 22 EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) referrals as set out in its March 2021 Guidance. The case relates to an appeal brought by Illumina against the Commission’s decision to accept the referral by (...)
170
On 6 April 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) issued Guidance to Member States on how to screen foreign direct investment (“FDI”) from Russia and Belarus into the EU, in light of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine (“FDI Guidance”). Following Russia’s unjustified attack against (...)
669
On 1 March 2022 the EU Commission published, for consultation, its draft revised rules on horizontal cooperation agreements. The rules consist of two horizontal block exemption Regulations (covering Research & Development agreements and Specialisation agreements) and Guidelines on the (...)
316
In March the European Commission (“Commission”) published, for consultation, its draft revised Guidelines on the application of Article 101 TFEU to horizontal cooperation agreements (“draft revised Horizontal Guidelines”). The proposed revisions are important as they update and expand the existing (...)
571
On 20 January 2022 the European Commission (“Commission“) published its final report on the consumer Internet of Things (“IoT“) sector inquiry, largely confirming its preliminary findings issued in July 2021. These include concerns around high market entry barriers, the influence on the market of a (...)
243
The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has published new guidelines on its leniency programme and on the setting of fines in cartel proceedings. Unfortunately, both guidelines are so far available only in German. The previous guidelines date from 2006 and 2013 respectively. The FCO has now (...)
211
The Illumina/GRAIL case saga continues. As we reported in our previous briefing, the Illumina / GRAIL deal provides the first illustrative example of the European Commission’s ("Commission") new approach to try and “catch” transactions using the referral mechanism in Article 22 EU Merger (...)
880
On 9 July 2021, following a comprehensive consultation process, the EU Commission (Commission) published its proposals for a revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (Draft VBER) and Draft Vertical Guidelines, due to replace the current regime which expires on 31 May 2022. The previous (...)
1532
On 22 June 2021 the European Commission (“Commission”) revealed that it had carried out surprise inspections at the German premises of a company active in the clothing sector, suspected of infringing competition rules. This was the first unannounced inspection, or “dawn raid”, conducted by the (...)
241
In its judgment of 21 May 2021 the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) upheld the CMA’s approach in applying the share of supply test to assert jurisdiction over Sabre’s acquisition of Farelogix, (with the CMA ultimately prohibiting the transaction following an in-depth investigation). The CAT (...)
302
In April and May 2021 the European Commission ("EC") announced the imposition of fines totalling almost €400 million on banks implicated in two separate cartels relating to bond trading. In a separate development, the EC took unprecedented action to exclude a number of international banks from (...)
336
On 5 May 2021, the European Commission (Commission) issued its proposal for a Regulation on foreign subsidies distorting the EU market. This follows on from the Commission’s White Paper issued in June 2020 and the extensive public consultation that ensued. The primary objective of this (...)
273
In April and May 2021 the European Commission ("EC") announced the imposition of fines totalling almost €400 million on banks implicated in two separate cartels relating to bond trading. In a separate development, the EC took unprecedented action to exclude a number of international banks from (...)
224
On 26 March 2021, the French Constitutional Council declared unconstitutional Article L.462-2 of the French Commercial Code ("FCC") on obstruction to an investigation of the FCA. Pursuant to this provision, the FCA can set a fine for obstruction, the amount of which cannot exceed 1% of the (...)
237
On 24 March 2021, the FCA fined the three main French manufacturers of industrial sandwiches sold under private label for having defined a common strategy when responding to calls for tender launched by large and medium-sized retailers. The FCA launched dawn raids at the premises of the (...)
240
In March 2021, the Court of Justice of the EU ("CJEU") partially annulled a judgment of the General Court ("GC"), reducing from €3.8 million to €2.6 million the fine imposed on Pometon S.p.A ("Pometon") for its participation in the steel abrasives cartel. The CJEU granted the fine reduction (...)
237
On 18 March 2021, the Italian Administrative Highest Court (Consiglio di Stato) referred a case to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling regarding a request for revocation of its judgment with regard an antitrust infringement by Novartis-Roche. The CJEU has been asked to rule on whether the (...)
237
In March, the Russian Supreme Court adopted a Decree providing clarifications on antitrust matters (the "Plenum Decree") . The Plenum Decree replaced most of the previous antitrust clarifications issued by the Supreme Commercial Court back in 2008. The new measure is comprehensive and covers a (...)
240
Facts and FCA decision On 13 March 2012, the French Competition Authority ("FCA") sanctioned a flour cartel between French and German millers. One of the anti-competitive practices consisted in a non-aggression pact limiting flour imports between France and Germany, leading to market sharing (...)
248
The Munich Regional Court has granted an injunction based on Article 101 TFEU against an arrangement between Google and the German Ministry of Health . The Ministry operates a national online platform (“Gesund.bund.de”) providing information on health, including a short description of common (...)
315
On 27 January 2021, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) dismissed in its entirety an appeal brought by the Goldman Sachs Group (Goldman Sachs) against a General Court ruling which confirmed Goldman Sachs’ joint and several liability in the 2014 power cables cartel (judgment here). The CJEU (...)
233
At the end of January 2021, the revised Act against Restraints on Competition ("ARC") entered into force. Most attention has focused on the new powers bestowed upon the Federal Cartel Office ("FCO") to investigate the likes of Google, Amazon and Facebook. However, the revised ARC also contains (...)
174
On 1 January 2021, with the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK entered the real world of Brexit. This has immediate implications for merger control both in the UK and the EU. Any companies involved in deals need to be aware of the impact. As of 1 January 2021 the EU Merger Regulation (...)
47
The National Court has annulled the CNMC’s decision in case S/DC/0525/14 CEMENTOS. In this case, the CNMC fined a number of companies for taking part in four cartels, which constituted four separate single and continuous infringements. However, the National Court, found that the conditions for (...)
143
On 9 December 2020, the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) annulled a European Commission decision accepting legally binding commitments offered by Paramount aimed at addressing a Commission investigation into cross-border pay-TV in the EU (the “Paramount Commitment Decision”). The CJEU also set (...)
95
On 22 January 2021, the European Commission published a non-confidential version of its decision to fine ethylene purchasers Orbia, Clariant and Celanese a total of EUR 260 million for participating in a cartel aimed at purchasing ethylene at the lowest possible price, to the detriment of (...)
168
In July 2020, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its market study final report “Online platforms and digital advertising” (“Report”) (see the Report here). The Report includes significant recommendations on the future regulation of platforms funded by digital advertising, (...)
2073
On 17 April 2020 the CMA announced its provisional clearance of Amazon’s proposed acquisition of a stake in Deliveroo. The transaction was referred for an in-depth Phase 2 investigation in December 2019, in light of concerns about the impact on competition for the supply of online restaurant (...)
176
On 6 June 2013 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published its decision on the completed acquisition of certain assets of Petroplus Refining and Marketing Limited (PRML). The asset sale was conducted in the course of administration proceedings, the underlying business having ceased trading. (...)
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