EU Merger Control

Hear directly from the Commission to ascertain the latest thinking on policy and strategy in EU merger control. 

• Are we expecting an overhaul of EU merger control as we enter the 2020s?
• The increasing influence of stakeholders and the politicisation of merger control.
• Facing the realities of modern Europe: mergers involving state-controlled enterprises, third country interventions, and distortive state subsidies.

• Killer acquisitions: are large digital companies blocking innovation by buying tech start-ups? Are we in need of moving to an “error-cost” framework?
• Tech giants, platforms and questions of fairness: a new regulatory landscape for 2020?
• The drafting of remedies in the digital economy: is current policy fit for purpose?

• Should the implementation of competition law be used to pursue public policy goals?
• To what extent do the EU’s Article 11 commitments to environmental protection and the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) raise antitrust issues?
• Does EU competition law focus too narrowly on issues of price and innovation? Is there room to broaden its scope?
• The effect on vertical agreements: are we in need of overarching guidelines?

• Analysis of the Siemens/Alstom decision.
• The changing scope of geographical markets: is the threat from large non-EU firms, such as the Chinese state-owned CRRC, overblown?
• If threats to competition are globally sized, does regional enforcement need to be scaled up?
• Will growing mega-firms from markets outside Europe necessitate a change of EU merger control?

• Hear from regulators and in-house counsel from across Europe.
• Substantive analysis and procedural updates from regulators such as the CMA, Authorite de la Concurrence, and Belgian Competition Authority.
• Hear first-hand operational experiences from in-house counsel across industries such as data, steel and telecommunications.