Competition & Antitrust
European and local enforcement authorities are increasing their scrutiny of companies in many sectors, particularly in matters involving competition law. Your business needs comprehensive advice to prevent unwelcome surprises down the road. We can help you assess and improve the compliance of your operations so you can focus on what is important for you: staying competitive.
We advise on EU and national competition law matters with an eye to your success. This means providing reliable results, fast. We can support you on all aspects of competition law, including cartel investigations, merger control, co-operation and distribution agreements, abusive practices and state aid. Organising competition law audits and representing clients before national competition authorities, the EU Commission and other courts are among our specialties – no small matter, when you consider that you can rely on our experts in 13 countries throughout CEE/SEE.
How else can we support you? We advise you in antitrust litigation, including cartels, abuse of a dominant market position as well as private enforcement of competition law. Our local teams are on hand day-in, day-out to help you with the details: we don't shy from tricky matters like distribution systems, co-operation agreements, rebate schemes and pricing policies.
Our track record of success in CEE/SEE means that we can make our relationships with competition authorities work for you so that even complex mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures get wrapped up smoothly. The same goes for EU merger regulation cases and notifications to national competition authorities across the region. We advise on effective structuring solutions for mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, and propose, negotiate and implement remedial actions to obtain the necessary regulatory clearances.
Abuse of Dominance
We can support you on a variety of allegations of abusive practices, including excessive, discriminatory and predatory pricing, discount and rebate strategies, margin squeezing, exclusive agreements, tying and bundling practices and access to essential facilities. As a dominant firm we advise you on the compliance of your commercial policies and business strategies with the special obligations you have under EU and national competition law.
Cartels
We handle the entire lifecycle of cartel investigations before the European Commission and national competition authorities for you – from the launch of an investigation by dawn raids, development of coordinated and efficient response strategies, leniency applications and settlements, to appeal and follow-on damages claims.
Competition compliance
Trust us to develop, implement and monitor tailor-made competition compliance programmes; to conduct audits to identify and minimise legal risk early on; to prepare clear guidelines and training programmes on achieving competition compliance and the proper response to dawn raids and other investigations by the authorities. Learn more about our Compliance practice.
Competition litigation
We represent you before EU and national courts in litigation cases involving alleged abuse of a dominant position, cartels, restrictive practices and state aid. You benefit from our team's strong track record in handling large-scale or complex litigation cases in several jurisdictions across the CEE/SEE region.
Vertical & cooperation Agreements
Covering the full spectrum of competition law issues ensuing from various commercial arrangements with suppliers, distributors, customers and other parties, our team can help you structure effective distribution systems, including franchise, agency and licensing agreements. We can also advise on and ensure competition compliance of your cooperation agreements, including research and development, production and joint purchasing agreements.
Merger control
Our team is regularly involved in EU merger regulation cases as well as notifications to the national competition authorities across the CEE/SEE region. This means we can devise effective structuring solutions for your mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures and propose, negotiate and implement remedial actions, when needed, to obtain regulatory clearances and help you achieve your business goals.
Private Enforcement
You benefit from our substantial experience in assisting clients on damage claims relating to EU and national competition law infringements and on other claims relating to competition law before the national courts in the CEE/SEE region.
State aid
We provide you with effective state aid support both at the EU and national level. We help you successfully navigate through complex acquisitions and disposals of state-owned assets, large-scale restructurings in the course of financial and economic turmoil, investigations by the authorities and challenging court cases, repayment of state aid and recovery procedures.
