The United Kingdom (UK) government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper (Industrial Strategy)[1] sets out an ambitious vision to position the UK as a global leader in high-growth sectors, ensuring sustainable and inclusive economic growth. As the government prepares to launch this strategy,…
Quick Review: A Competitiveness Compass for the EU
The European Union stands at a crossroads. Despite its strengths—a skilled workforce, a continental Single Market, and a stable legal framework—the bloc has struggled to keep pace with global competitors like the U.S. and China. Productivity growth has stagnated for decades,…
The Power of Standards in the Digital Age: An EU Perspective
In recent years, standards have increasingly been recognized as key drivers of global competitiveness, particularly in the digital era. In February 2022, the European Commission introduced its first-ever Standardization Strategy, aiming to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness through more efficient and robust standardization processes.
Navigating Competition in Generative AI: A Global Collaborative Effort
by István Kopácsi As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance at a breakneck pace, ensuring that its development and deployment adhere to principles of fair competition is more critical than ever. A recent joint statement[1] from competition authorities in the European Union,…
Article 1 (5) of the DMA and Section 19a of the German Competition Act regarding Google’s Commitments
by Fatma Ceren Morbel A recent effort by the European Union, known as the Digital Markets Act, aims to ensure fair and contestable markets, which was passed in November 2022 and entered into force in May 2023. Article 114 TFEU provides…
A new dawn for competition enforcement in Germany: the reforms of the 11th Amendment of German Competition Act
by Dávid Szász Following the publication in the Federal Law Gazette, the 11th amendment[1] (“Amendment”) to the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, “GWB”) have entered into force on the 7th of November 2023. Regarded by some as the biggest reform of German…
G7 competition summit in Tokyo
by István Kopácsi Competition authorities and policy makers from the G7 countries met in Tokyo on 8 November 2023 and published the conclusions in a joint communiqué.[1] The aim was to discuss issues related to competition in digital markets, recognizing the…
EU competition law still relevant in the UK after Brexit
by Martin Milán Csirszki In a recent judgment, the United Kingdom Competition Appeal Tribunal („CAT”) ruled that the Volvo decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union („CJEU”) of 22 June 2022[1] did not apply to the ongoing case before…
Advocate General’s Opinion on the case “Meta Platforms and Others”
by Fatma Ceren Morbel After Meta’s new conditions imposed on its users which put users into a “take it or leave it” situation, in 2016 the German Federal Cartel Office initiated an investigation against Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). As a result…