As of 1 January 2024, the Swedish Competition Authority will have increased authority to supervise public procurements. The powers have been adopted in order to make procurement supervision more effective.
Under the new rules, the Swedish Competition Authority may now make decisions on procurement fines without having to apply for a review of the fine in court. This presupposes, however, that the procurement did not begin before 1 January 2024.
On 8 February 2024, the Belgian Parliament adopted an Act “containing various provisions regarding the Economy” (“Act”), the final text of which was published on 21 March 2024 in the Belgian Official Gazette.
Article 29 of the Act extends the list of information that is to be included in the pre-contractual information document (PID) as required under the Belgian Disclosure Act (“Belgian Disclosure Act”).
The aim of the PID is to function as a “red flag document” that alerts the counterparty to important contractual provisions prior to committing itself by signing a legally binding commercial cooperation agreement. The amendments to the Belgian Disclosure Act further specify the important contractual provisions that need to be included in the PID.
We’re pleased to present the 14th edition of Ukrainian Laws in Wartime: Guide for International and Domestic Businesses, a brief overview of the key features of wartime legislation. In this edition you’ll explore pertinent responses to the most common questions currently examined and addressed by international and Ukrainian businesses.
The Government of Canada has announced the 2024 financial thresholds for pre-merger notification and clearance under the Competition Act, and for pre-closing, “net benefit” review and approval under the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”). While the Competition Act “size of transaction” financial threshold remains the same, the ICA financial thresholds have increased. Significantly, this is the third year in a row that the Competition Act financial threshold has remained unchanged at CAD 93 million in a bid to maintain the number of transactions subject to review by the Commissioner of Competition.
The new year began with the inauguration of the nine elected commissioners of the Indonesian Competition Commission (Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha, KPPU). The newly inaugurated KPPU leadership hit the ground running with various engagements and announced a refined industry focus in their 100 day action plan.
On 1 December 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a Sherman Act conviction of a former executive of an aluminum products manufacturer for failure to state a per se antitrust offense. In February 2022, the former executive was found guilty of six counts: conspiracy to rig bids, conspiracy to commit mail or wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud. The court affirmed the mail and wire fraud convictions, but reversed the Sherman Act conviction of conspiracy to rig bids. The Fourth Circuit held that the trial court erred in applying the per se rule without considering the fact that the alleged scheme took place within the context of a “dual distribution” relationship among competing bidders, who also maintained a supplier relationship.
Investigations are an essential tool for ensuring a company’s ethical standards are being followed by employees, business partners, and any others with whom the company interacts. However, investigations are also an essential tool for demonstrating and maintaining strong corporate governance – an integral part of a company’s ESG commitments and strategy. It is also a good time to set yourself some goals and resolutions. To help you on your way, we are pleased to share our top 5 Lunar New Year Resolutions for handling Internal or Government Investigations
The UK government has published its long-awaited response to the AI White Paper, “A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation” published in March 2023. In this article, we distill the essential information you need to know.
Long-awaited reforms to the Canadian Competition Act (“Act”) have arrived and represent the most comprehensive amendments to the Act in over a decade. Recent and proposed amendments to the abuse of dominance provisions are likely to have a significant impact on how businesses operating in Canada assess and manage risk.
Although often viewed as one of the most open economies in Europe, the broader European policy push for more foreign direct investment (FDI) screening has also given momentum to the Dutch legislature to design and implement the very first Dutch cross-sector FDI screening regime. On 1 June 2023, the Act on Security Screening of Investments, Mergers, and Acquisitions (“Vifo Act”) entered into force.