Competition law enforcement at both EU and national member state level continues to give lawyers in Belgium food for thought on how best to assist clients with their most demanding commercial, legal and regulatory issues.
In September 2019, Margrethe Vestager was reappointed for a second term as EU competition commissioner. Vestager is well-known for having launched antitrust investigations against blue-chip technology companies, which had seen the likes of Apple and Google being hit by huge fines. State aid cases involving tax issues had also been another area of focus during her first term. In addition to retaining her existing role, Vestager also now has a broader mandate as Executive Vice President, which sees her play a key role in coordinating European policy on the digital economy. Vestager’s dual roles are a reflection that the digital economy will continue to drive the European Commission (EC)’s competition agenda. Continuing the theme, the EC recently opened an antitrust investigation into Amazon’s alleged anticompetitive conduct over the use of sensitive data from independent retailers using its platform. The life sciences and pharmaceutical sector also remains a hotbed of activity for competition lawyers in Belgium, with the EC and national competition authorities across Europe pursuing cases involving allegations of excessive pricing, pay-for-delay agreements and objectionable lifecycle management, among other issues.
Elsewhere, in the merger control arena, the (politically-sensitive) proposed rail merger between Germany’s Siemens and French company Alstom was blocked by the EC on the grounds of concerns about the impact of the deal on competition in the signalling systems and very high speed train markets. Had the merger been cleared, it would have led to the creation of a single European champion in the rail industry; there had been a debate as to whether or not one was needed to compete with Chinese company CRRC, which is the world’s largest rolling stock manufacturer. In another notable matter, the EC imposed interim measures on Broadcom in the TV and modern chipset markets; this was the first time in 18 years that the EC had announced the imposition of interim measures in a competition investigation. With investigations often taking a considerable period of time before decisions are announced, it is thought that interim measures will be used more frequently to address urgent competition concerns, particularly in fast-evolving sectors.
Published in 2020 at https://www.legal500.com for The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa 2020
Current link: https://www.legal500.com/c/belgium/legal-market-overview/