Sarah is Counsel in the global antitrust group of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, based in the firm’s London office. She has extensive experience and technical expertise across a wide range of antitrust issues that arise on complex mergers and investigations. In her role, Sarah works with clients and lawyers across the global group to ensure the clients benefit from the group’s leading expertise in this rapidly developing area.
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The CMA’s newly released “Green Agreements Guidance” provides welcome clarity and comfort to businesses, trade associations and NGOs looking to work together to achieve environmental sustainability objectives. It provides guidance on the types of agreement that are unlikely to infringe (...)
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After months of waiting, the UK government has now introduced into Parliament the text of the hotly anticipated Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (the Bill). Sarah Cardell, CEO of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has described this as a “flagship bill” which has (...)
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Digital markets and Sustainability are key focus areas of the CMA’s 2022-2023 Annual Plan* On 24 March 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its 2022-2023 Annual Plan, setting out the focus areas for the UK’s principal competition and consumer protection regulator. In (...)
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On 29 April 2021, the principal legislation establishing the UK’s new national security regime – the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the Act ) – received Royal Assent. Although the new regime is not expected to come into force until much later in 2021, the granting of Royal Assent (...)
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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has updated its guidelines on the way it assesses mergers to take account of the significant economic changes that have taken place since it published its previous guidance in 2010. The CMA is taking an increasingly interventionist approach to (...)
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Since the UK Government published the National Security and Investment Bill (the Bill) in November 2020 (see our earlier briefing), a number of issues have prompted significant debate and investor concerns. Many of these centre on the delicate balance between the UK Government’s desire to (...)
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On 11 November 2020, the UK Government published its long-awaited National Security and Investment Bill (the Bill) in a significant departure from the 2018 White Paper (see our previous briefing). The Bill establishes a new screening regime for investments in a wide range of sensitive and (...)
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Although many competition authorities are making considerable efforts to ensure “business as usual” during the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic is inevitably having a material impact on merger control reviews around the globe. In addition to the obvious timing implications, deals are now being, (...)
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The Commission’s decision on 27 June 2019 to impose a €28 million fine on Canon for breaching EU notification and standstill obligations is the latest in a series of cases showing the Commission’s determination to take action against procedural infringements of EU merger control. It follows a (...)
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On 7 June 2018, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) partially set aside the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA’s) decision fining Pfizer and Flynn nearly £90 million for charging unfairly high, or excessive, prices for phenytoin sodium capsules (an anti-epilepsy drug) in breach of (...)
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In the same week as President Trump blocked Broadcom’s takeover of Qualcomm on national security grounds, the UK Government introduced draft legislation that will allow it to intervene in a wider range of investments in the military, dual-use, computing hardware and quantum technology sectors. (...)
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On 15th September, the European Commission published the preliminary report on its e-commerce sector inquiry. The Commission has identified a number of business practices which it believes may restrict competition in online trade for consumer goods and digital content. It has warned of (...)
