Competition Policy in the EU
Latest news on competition policy in the European Union.
State aid: EU approves alternative RBS plan
The EU Commission approved Monday under EU State aid rules the alternative package proposed by UK authorities to replace the commitment for Royal Bank of Scotland to divest Williams & Glyn.
Expert comment on Google appealing its £2.2bn EU fine
Zhewei Zhang, of Warwick Business School, Assistant Professor of Information Systems and researches digital innovation and design, comments on Google appealing its £2.2bn EU fine.
EU Court orders review of EUR 1.06 bn fine on Intel
The EU's top Court sent back for review Wednesday a previous General Court ruling which upheld a fine of EUR 1.06 billion imposed on Intel in 2009 by the Commission for abuse of a dominant position.
Brussels approves German rescue aid to Air Berlin
The EU Commission endorsed Monday under state aid rules Germany's plans to grant Air Berlin a temporary EUR 150m bridging loan to allow for the orderly wind-down of the insolvent airline.
EU launches in-depth probe into Monsanto Bayer merger
The EU has opened an in-depth probe into Bayer's proposed acquisition of Monsanto over concerns that the merger may reduce competition in pesticides, seeds and traits.
Brussels okays German state aid for high speed internet
The EU Commission has endorsed under EU state aid rules three German virtual access products that will allow the use of so-called vectoring technology in state-funded high-speed broadband networks.
Brussels objects to VISA inter-regional fees
The European Commission sent a supplementary Statement of Objections to Visa Inc. and Visa International Thursday, focusing on inter-regional fees on transactions with consumer debit cards.
Belgian airlines aid broke state aid rules, says EU
Public support granted by Belgium to three airlines flying from Brussels airport gave them an unfair advantage over other airlines, in breach of EU state aid rules, the EU Commission concluded Tuesday.
Merck, GE and Canon in EU dock over merger rules
The European Commission sent three separate Statements of Objections to Merck and Sigma-Aldrich, General Electric and Canon Thursday alleging they breached EU merger rules.
Brussels approves Peugeot acquisition of Opel
The European Commission gave its unconditional approval to the acquisition of Opel by Peugeot Wednesday, concluding that the transaction raised no competition concerns in the relevant markets.
Antitrust: Google's record EUR 2.4 bn fine
The European Commission fined Google EUR 2.42 billion on 27 June 2017 for breaching EU antitrust rules. Google, it said, had abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service.
Google fined EUR 2.4 bn for breaching EU antitrust rules
The European Commission fined Google EUR 2.42 billion Tuesday for giving an illegal advantage to the U.S. search giant's own comparison shopping service, thus breaching EU antitrust rules.
EU fines car lighting systems cartel EUR 27m
The European Commission fined Automotive Lighting and Hella a total of EUR 27 million Wednesday for participating in a cartel concerning the supply of vehicle lighting systems in the European Economic Area.
EU gives conditional approval to Nordic Capital buy of Intrum Justitia
The EU Commission approved Tuesday the acquisition of Intrum Justitia by Nordic Capital, conditional on the divestment of overlapping debt collection and debt purchasing activities.
EU imposes import duties to counter Chinese subsidies on steel
The EU Commission has imposed definitive anti-subsidy duties of up to 35.9 per cent on Chinese hot-rolled flat steel used in shipbuilding, gas containers, pressure vessels, tubes and energy pipelines.
Facebook fined for misleading EU over WhatsApp
The European Commission fined Facebook EUR 110m Thursday for providing misleading information during the Commission's 2014 investigation of Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp.
Widening scope of General Block Exemption Regulation
The European Commission widened the scope of the General Block Exemption Regulation on 17 May 2017. The new rules exempt, for the first time, support measures for ports and airports and give Member States more flexibility to support culture, multi-functional sports arenas and businesses in the EU's outermost regions, without having to seek prior Commission approval.
Brussels relaxes state aid rules for regional airports
The EU Commission approved Wednesday new state aid rules that exempt certain public support measures for ports, airports, culture and outermost EU regions from prior Commission scrutiny.
EU antitrust investigations to target e-commerce sites
EU competition authorities are looking to target their enforcement of EU antitrust rules at e-commerce markets, following publication of the Commission's final report on the e-commerce sector inquiry.
EU Court of Justice rejects banana cartel appeal
The European Court of Justice confirmed Thursday that in proving a cartel the Commission can rely on and use as evidence documents from national authorities other than competition authorities.