For most businesses, there is no substitute to having a proactive competition law compliance programme in place. Competition law issues can arise without warning and, without proper measures being put into place, it is impossible to ensure that no potentially compromising situations will arise. Just one unhelpfully worded email sent by a junior employee could be enough to trigger a competition investigation – we’ve seen it in practice!
Our team of specialist competition lawyers has considerable experience working with businesses to help them identify and manage their competition law risks, achieving compliance.
Our range of compliance offerings includes in-person training, e-learning and written guidance. We also regularly conduct competition law audits, giving clients a snapshot overview of the level of competition law compliance within their organisation – and an opportunity to manage any issues that may be identified.
We recognise that achieving compliance is not a case of “one size fits all” and that an effective compliance programme needs to be tailored to the business and the market in which it operates. Our approach is to be highly adaptable. Our objective is to identify what will work best for the business in question, to help it minimise competition law risk.
To help clients with their compliance efforts, we have developed our Antitrust Armour suite of products. Click here for further details.
Experience includes:
- Production of a report, published by the client a major global technology company, proposing a methodology pursuant to competition and cybersecurity law to examine the government effects of removing its products from the market.
- Writing on the competition and regulatory aspects, including liability and insurance, of changes to the structure of air transport navigation, in particular data aspects of such changes, in a study commissioned by the European Commission.
- Compliance advice to a group of European suppliers in relation to business advice provided to them regarding downstream supply-chain topics.
- Advice to a sporting association about a possible competition complaint to the European Commission regarding the conduct of a sport organising body.
- Advising one of Asia’s leading handset producers in relation to various licensing aspects of standard essential patents. As well as the novelty of and complexity of the legal and technical issues, it was also a significant industry issue between handset producers, chipset producers and patent trolls.
- Analysing the agreements creating a motor sport body alleged to hold a dominant position and the agreements between it and a leading terrestrial television channel to ensure that those agreements were valid under competition law.
- Advising a major European pharmaceutical company in relation to its supply and distribution of product to wholesalers and retailers, ensuring it was safe from competition law challenge following the decisions by the EU Commission and the Greek competition authority’s decision concerning GlaxoSmithKline’s product distribution.
- Advice on State aid law and policy to Europe’s airport trade association in relation to changes to the rules affecting in particular regional airports’ financial viability.
The new competition rules for vertical agreements in the UK
From 1 June 2022, new rules govern how competition law applies to vertical agreements in the UK and EU. The new rules apply to all types of vertical agreement, including exclusive and selective distribution, franchising, sub-contracting and agency. Almost all businesses are therefore impacted by them.
Our briefing note highlights the main points that businesses need to know in relation to the new rules for the UK. We can provide further guidance on all aspects of the new rules – please contact a member of our Competition team for further information.
