Recent developments in the FDI screening in Romania and beyond
This article analyses the recent and upcoming changes in Romania’s foreign direct investment screening regime following Government Emergency Ordinance No. 17/2026 which amended and supplemented Government Emergency Ordinance No. 46/2022. It examines the clarified scope of reviewable transactions, revised thresholds, and procedural innovations, alongside the forthcoming overhaul of the CEISD operating regulation and notification form. These national updates are evaluated against the backdrop of the Regulation (EU) 2026/1386, which will supersede Regulation (EU) 2019/452 once it comes into force.
Released on Aug 10, 2026
Keeping up with merger control: comparing Turkey’s recent amendments with the EU Draft Merger Guidelines
This article examines the recent amendments to the Turkish merger control regime, namely the revisions to Communiqué No. 2010/4 and the accompanying merger control Guidelines and compares them with the European Commission’s Draft EU Merger Guidelines. While the Turkish reforms primarily aim to enhance legal certainty and predictability, the Draft EU Merger Guidelines propose a broader modernisation of substantive merger assessment to reflect developments in innovation, investment and competitive dynamics. Through this comparative analysis, the article highlights the practical implications of the Turkish reforms and considers their significance in the context of evolving merger control enforcement.
Released on Aug 10, 2026
ROBOR and competition law: Romania’s landmark benchmark-setting investigation
The Romanian Competition Council has sanctioned ten banks for alleged coordination in the ROBOR (Romanian Interbank Offer Rate) benchmark-setting process, imposing fines totalling approximatively €700m. The case is significant not only as a major domestic enforcement development, but also as a national application of EU competition law to benchmark-related conduct, in line with the European Commission’s precedents.
Released on Aug 10, 2026
Who gets a say? The case for negotiated mechanisms under Bill No. 4,675/2025 and the future of digital markets regulation in Brazil
This article presents preliminary thoughts and considerations on Brazil’s Bill No. 4,675/2025, which will make the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) the regulator for digital markets. It briefly analyses the adequacy of the proposed model: (1) for the digital markets sector; and (2) in relation to Brazil’s existing framework. The article also demonstrates that adopting a dialogue-based model for the obligations of the agents designated as systemically relevant ‘gatekeepers’, given CADE’s experience and success with consensual negotiations, may enhance proportionality, legal certainty and regulatory effectiveness without displacing public enforcement authority.
Released on Aug 10, 2026
Mexico’s new competition authority after the 2025 reforms: a brief status update
Nearly a year into operation, the new Mexican competition authority, the Comisión Nacional Antimonopolio (the CNA) demonstrates technical and institutional continuity with its predecessor, while operating under a more assertive enforcement framework.
Released on Aug 10, 2026
Turkish Competition Board imposes sector-wide separation remedies in the casting agencies sector
The Turkish Competition Board has fined casting agencies for the joint determination of agency commission rates, service conditions and exchange of competitively sensitive information. It has also imposed sector-wide remedies banning the conduct of casting agency and casting direction or production activities within the same economic unit. This article critically examines these remedies with respect to their legal basis, necessity, and compatibility with the Turkish competition law framework.
Released on Aug 10, 2026
Exploring the evolving frontiers of competition law: reflections from the 28th Annual IBA Competition Conference
A conference report from the 28th Annual IBA Competition Conference, held on 6–7 September 2024 in Florence, Italy.
Released on Jan 28, 2025
Report on the 25th Annual Competition Conference
Report on the 25th Annual Competition Conference
Released on Apr 13, 2022
IBA-ICC Annual Pre-ICN Forum 2023: The Antitrust Trifecta – enforcers, the courts and the private sector
A conference report of the IBA-ICC Annual Pre-ICN Forum 2023, held on 17 October 2023 in Torre Glories, Barcelona.
Co-Chairs' note - February 2020
Daniel G Swanson and Thomas Janssens provide a Co-Chairs' Note for the Antitrust Committee, February 2020.
Irish Supreme Court confirms witnesses must speak up about cartels or risk prosecution
There has been a longstanding question over the constitutionality of the crime (under Irish law) of withholding from the Gardaí (Irish police), without reasonable excuse, any information which a person has about a criminal cartel and knows might materially assist in preventing, apprehending, prosecuting or convicting that cartel.
Canada: competition update
Peter Flynn and Victoria Turner report on a few significant developments in Canadian competition law, including: the Competition Tribunal’s decision in the Vancouver Airport Authority case; a public call-out for information by the Bureau regarding anti-competitive conduct in the digital economy; and significant policy developments and international cooperation at the Bureau.
China: new framework for resale price maintenance analysis
In the last week of June 2019, a copy of a ground-breaking court ruling emerged on social media in China: the order by the Supreme People's Court in the case between Yutai Technology Feed and the Hainan Price Bureau. The order provides a direct answer to the question of whether or not the Chinese antitrust authorities bear the burden of proving the anti-competitive effects of companies' resale price maintenance conduct. China's highest court found that they do not.
New Zealand: Antitrust update, January 2020
At the end of 2019, the New Zealand Commerce Commission released two documents which provide interesting insights into its activities and the state of competition in New Zealand: a Complaints Snapshot and its Annual Review. The Commission also recently concluded its first market study, the results of which reflect the Commission’s ongoing focus on vertical competition issues.
Hungarian court confirms a fine on Apple due to its commercial practice concerning the ‘Wi-Fi Assist’ feature
In 2016, the Hungarian Competition Authority initiated a procedure against Apple Inc to review whether its commercial communication concerning the launch of the ‘Wi-Fi Assist’ feature (as incorporated into Apple’s operating system ‘iOS 9’) was in line with Hungarian legislation implementing the EU’s Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices.
Norway: Competition law and sports – the world number one slalom skier sues national sports federation
The Henrik Kristoffersen case sheds light on the European approach to the weighing of interests between athletes' commercial marketing rights and the commercial marketing rights of (quasi) monopolised sports federations.
Court of Appeal overturns Competition Appeal Tribunal’s refusal to certify MasterCard's collective action claim
In the relatively new world of competition collective actions (class actions) in the UK, the focus has been on certification and, in particular, how this should be undertaken by the first instance court – the Competition Appeal Tribunal.