Nicholas Levy

I came to Brussels to practise competition law a week after the EU Merger Regulation (the “EUMR”) [1] entered into force in 1990 and can well remember the antitrust community’s sense of expectation, trepidation, and excitement. Expectation because of the long period of gestation that followed the Court of Justice’s judgment in Continental Can [2] and the uncertainty around the European Commission’s (the “Commission’s”) ability to implement an EU-wide system of merger control. Trepidation because of the significant practical challenges, open questions of law, and untested principles that were raised by the EUMR. Excitement because of the realization that the practice of EU competition law would almost certainly be permanently and materially changed. Among the many open questions was the role that would be played by the EU Courts and the scope for effective and timely judicial review of Commission decisions.

On 21 February, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) found that Hargreave Hale Ltd (“Hargreave Hale”), Newton Investment Management Limited (“Newton”), and River and Mercantile Asset Management LLP (“RAMAM”) had breached competition law by sharing strategic information on a bilateral basis (...)

On October 17, 2017, the UK Government published legislative proposals that would give it greater powers to intervene in mergers that raise national security considerations or involve national infrastructure. In the short-term, any transaction involving a party active in the manufacture or (...)

On May 18, 2017, the European Commission (the “Commission”) fined Facebook €110 million for providing incorrect or misleading information during its 2014 investigation of its acquisition of WhatsApp The magnitude of the fine dwarfs the few penalties the Commission has imposed in the past for (...)

This article has been nominated by the Business Steering Committee for the business category, general antitrust section of the 2012 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. On March 21, 2011, the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal (the “CAT”) struck (...)