Veronica Roberts is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills’ London office. She specialises in EU and UK competition law, and has experience working in Brussels and London. Veronica is head of the firm’s global Foreign Investment group and is global co-head of the firm’s Technology, Media and Telecoms sector. Veronica has an outstanding record of dealing with high profile competition investigations and merger/foreign investment clearances in the UK, EU and worldwide. She has extensive experience of working with the CMA (Competition & Markets Authority), Ofcom, Ofgem, the Investment Security Unit (ISU) and the European Commission. Veronica gave evidence to the House of Commons when the UK’s new FDI/NSI regime was being formulated and has advised clients on many NSI filings, including a number of the conditional clearances issued by the ISU.
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On 11 July 2023, the Cabinet Office published the second Annual Report on the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA), covering the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 (the Report). As discussed in our earlier detailed briefing, the NSIA introduced a new framework for the review (...)
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Moves towards greater transparency under the UK National Security and Investment Act ?* The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA) introduced a new standalone UK regime for the review of certain transactions and investments on national security grounds, which entered into force in (...)
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The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (DMCC Bill) has now been published and introduced before Parliament. This Bill is long awaited, having been delayed by parliamentary priorities and timing considerations. Its scope and implications are wide-ranging, and follow on both from a (...)
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On 8 August 2022 the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) set aside the CMA’s infringement decision in its Compare The Market investigation relating to the use of wide MFN clauses. The CAT concluded that the CMA’s definition of the relevant market in the decision was materially wrong and that (...)
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The UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act entered into force on 4 January 2022, introducing a new standalone UK regime for the review of qualifying transactions and investments on national security grounds (see our detailed briefing on the regime here). On 19 July 2022, the UK (...)
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On 20 April 2022 the UK government published its response to the consultation launched in July 2021, proposing a wide range of far-reaching changes to the UK competition and consumer protection regimes (see our blog post on the consultation here). Taking into account the feedback received from (...)
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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 (...)
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On 4 January 2022 the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act enters into force, introducing a new foreign direct investment (FDI) regime with standalone powers for the review of FDI in the UK. The new regime replaces the existing public interest merger regime provisions of the (...)
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On 20 July 2021, the UK Government announced the commencement date of the substantive provisions of the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “Act“), and published new guidance for business on the requirements of the Act, new Draft Notifiable Acquisition Regulations, and a new (...)
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On 20 July 2021 the UK government launched a consultation on a wide range of far-reaching changes it is proposing to the UK competition and consumer protection regimes. As a result of Brexit the UK is now in a position to decide, independently from the EU Commission, how it promotes and (...)
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On 17 June 2021 the CMA published a consultation on its proposed recommendations to the Secretary of State on the future of the retained vertical agreements block exemption Regulation (VBER). At the end of the Brexit transition period the EU VBER became retained EU law in the UK, until its (...)
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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 (...)
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On 29 April 2021 the National Security and Investment (NSI) Bill received Royal Assent. The NSI Act 2021 introduces significant legislative reforms which will overhaul the ability of the UK Government to review transactions on national security grounds, and potentially prohibit their (...)
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The UK Government has today published its response to the consultation on mandatory notification in specific sectors under the proposed new national security screening regime contained in the National Security and Investment Bill (NSI Bill). The NSI Bill is currently making its way through the (...)
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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 (...)
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On 11 November 2020 the UK Government introduced the National Security and Investment Bill (NSI Bill) to Parliament, setting out significant legislative reforms which will overhaul the review of transactions and investments on national security grounds in the UK, against a backdrop of (...)
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On 28 May 2020 the General Court handed down its ruling in CK Telecoms UK Investment Ltd v European Commission (Case T-399/16) in which it annulled the EU Commission’s decision which prohibited the proposed acquisition by CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd (Hutchison) of Telefónica Europe plc (O2). The (...)
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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance on its approach to merger control during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance deals with procedural issues as well as substantive assessment, and makes it clear that on the whole the CMA’s approach remains one of ‘business as (...)
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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 (...)
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The CMA today published a penalty notice addressed to Sabre Corporation in the context of its anticipated acquisition of Farelogix Inc, for its failure to comply with two Section 109 Enterprise Act Notices. The anticipated acquisition is currently being examined by the CMA after its Merger (...)
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On 24 September 2019 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) imposed its largest ever fine for a single breach of an interim enforcement order (IEO) on Paypal, in the context of its acquisition of iZettle. IEOs are now routinely imposed in almost all completed mergers investigated by (...)
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On 6 August 2019 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published an unwinding order requiring the reversal of post-completion integration steps taken in the completed acquisition by Bottomline Technologies Limited (Bottomline UK) of Experian Limited’s Experian Payments Gateway (...)
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On 11 February 2019 the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) upheld the CMA’s first infringement decision for breach of an interim order imposed on a completed merger under investigation. Electro Rent had served a break notice on the lease of its UK premises without first seeking the CMA’s (...)
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On 17 October 2017 the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published its long-awaited Green Paper National Security and Infrastructure Investment Review for consultation. The Green Paper contains proposals to extend the UK merger control public interest (...)
