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Latest News & Legal Articles
New Guidelines for the Calculation of Fines in Belgium
Belgium’s Competition Authority has adopted new guidelines for the calculation of fines in antitrust cases to bring it in line with the European Commission’s standards. The guidelines will become effective as of 1 November 2014. As a result, companies will be sanctioned using the EU methodology regardless of whether the investigation was conducted by the European Commission or the Belgian competition Authority. Competition law infringements in Belgium as of 1 November will be
Guidance on Disclosure of Documents from European Commission’s Case File in Action for Damages
The European Commission’s formal opinion dated 5.05.2014 in application of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EC) 1/2003 (“Formal opinion”), provides some guidance for the private parties and for the national courts on the access to information/documents gathered during the European Commission’s antitrust investigation. Disclosure of such information/documents is a controversial issue in any action for damages. Legal framework Article 15(1) of Regulation No 1/2003 provides that in
The Cost of Exclusive Rebates
Competition Commission of Switzerland (“Comco”) in end of July 2014 imposed a fine of Euro 1.5 million on a Swiss news agency Schweizerische Depeschenagentur (“SDA”) after a two-year investigation of its exclusivity agreements. Nature of offence SDA is a dominant undertaking in the Swiss marker for news agency. It was held to breach the Swiss competition law by granting illegal exclusive rebates for its news subscriptions to certain customers on condition that such media comp
Latest in EU Corporate Law:
European Commission adopts proposal to strengthen shareholder engagement for Europe’s largest companies In April 2014 the European Commission adopted proposal on measures to improve the corporate governance of approximately 10.000 companies listed on Europe’s stock exchange. The proposal would enhance the long-term sustainability of these 10.000 companies. In addition, it would provide hand-reach solutions for Single Member Companies (SME’s) in order to operate cross-border m