Insights

Washington – January 2, 2020: Crowell & Moring elected eight lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2020. The firm also promoted seven attorneys to the position of senior counsel, and 26 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s Washington, Los Angeles, and San Francisco offices. The new partners have been promoted from across offices and practice groups, including White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement, Health Care, International Trade, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Cybersecurity, Government Contracts, Litigation, and Antitrust.

Washington – February 22, 2019: Crowell & Moring LLP’s Antitrust Group has again been recognized as “Highly Recommended” in Global Competition Review’s (GCR) 19th edition of the “GCR 100” – the leading ranking of the world’s competition policy law and economics practices. This marks the fourth year in a row in which the firm was ranked as “Highly Recommended” in Washington, D.C. and New York. Additionally, the group was ranked as “Recommended” in California. GCR is the leading international journal of competition policy and regulation.

A number of important Belgian and EU legislative changes are likely to have an impact in 2024. On the one hand, there are new laws that have been adopted and will start to bite, and, on the other, there are proposals that are expected to firm up into law.

Businesses distributing goods and services in the EU often rely on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) for legal certainty. The VBER and the accompanying guidelines set out the conditions under which distribution agreements are presumed to comply with EU competition law. To be covered by the VBER, the parties’ market shares may not exceed 30% and the agreement may not include so-called hardcore restrictions. Above the market share threshold, the parties will need to self- assess their agreement based on the guidelines. Over the past few years, the Commission has been working with stakeholders to assess, update and amend the existing rules to take account of market developments, including the emergence of online platforms and e-commerce (see also our Client Alert of August 24, 2021). The most important changes can be summarized as follows:

Businesses distributing goods and services in the EU rely on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) for legal certainty. The VBER and the accompanying guidelines set out the conditions under which distribution agreements are presumed to comply with EU competition law. The current VBER is set to expire on May 31, 2022. Over the past few years, the Commission has been working with stakeholders to assess, update and amend the existing rules to take account of market developments, including the emergence of online platforms and e-commerce (see also our Client Alert of October 26, 2020). The most important changes proposed by the Commission can be summarized as follows:

Imagine finding out your supplier was fined several million euros by the European Commission for its participation in a cartel.  It appears your company was charged inflated prices for many years and suffered damages. Would you like to know what your options are to obtain compensation? 

How can you collect and use big data without running into trouble? The collection and commercial use of data is no longer merely a GDPR issue. It also raises questions in terms of competition law rules.

The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and accompanying Vertical Guidelines were finally adopted in May 2022 after four years of consultations and review. The new competition rules applicable to distribution and other vertical agreements take into account the specific challenges brought about by the growth of e-commerce and online platforms in the “digital age.” 

In this webinar we will focus on everything in-house lawyers need to know about the competition law aspects of M&A transactions. We will follow the lifecycle of a deal and address the questions that must be dealt with at each stage of the process. We will consider issues that arise at the start of the negotiations, or during the due diligence process, for both notifiable and non-notifiable transactions. We will also discuss what types of transactions are subject to merger control, what impact a notification has on the process and the timing, and we will cover best practices for pre-closing competition compliance.

In these unprecedented times, it is increasingly important for companies across all sectors to feel comfortable navigating the complex rules on state aid. On the one hand, state aid can be an important resource – granted by EU member states to support companies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic or stimulate investments (albeit subject to strict conditions). On the other hand, the European Commission is committed to vigorously pursuing any violation of the state aid rules – something that can lead to a multimillion, or even a multibillion euro bill in recovery measures.