Competition Law

On September 16, 2026, European Commission President von der Leyen opened her annual State of the Union address with the warning that “[a] fight for industrial capacities is shaping global competition“. Her speech indicated how the European Commission intends to respond to concerns about European competitiveness and economic security. Those priorities already appear in reforms and proposals such as the Draft Merger Guidelines and the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (“Draft IAA”), alongside broader changes to foreign investment screening across the EU. The address therefore offers a useful guide to the considerations likely to shape EU merger control, competition enforcement and Member State investment screening. This post distils the implications for investors and businesses active in the EU.

Key Points

  • Competitiveness, resilience and economic security will shape EU merger control to some degree, as reflected in the Draft Merger Guidelines’ focus on scale, innovation and security of supply, as well as competition enforcement and foreign investment screening.
  • Foreign investment policy will continue to scrutinise strategic sectors and technologies—including AI, semiconductors, critical minerals, energy and defence—while enabling partnerships that build capacity, diversify supply chains and strengthen resilience.
  • Trusted international partnerships will increasingly shape foreign investment assessments, with greater weight on investors’ jurisdictions and strategic alignment with EU industrial policy.
  • Climate change and AI are identified as “tipping points” driving regulatory focus across sectors including energy and water infrastructure, agriculture and food, health, transport, advanced manufacturing, and defence and space.
Continue Reading President von der Leyen’s 2026 State of the Union Address – Decoding the Competition and Foreign Investment Implications

Executive Summary

  • Geopolitical developments are driving significant investment into the defense sectors in Europe. Acquisitions and investments in these sectors are likely to require multiple regulatory approvals across merger control, foreign investment / national security control, and foreign subsidies.
  • Merger control across the EU and UK is becoming more accommodating for defense deals, with the Commission’s new ‘theory of benefit’ framework and the CMA’s efficiencies guidance expressly recognizing defense readiness, innovation, and scale as part of the competitive assessment.
  • Foreign investment screening is moving in the opposite direction — the revised EU FDI Screening Regulation mandates screening in all Member States and even allied-nation investors face increased scrutiny, as recent cases demonstrate.
  • The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) is a further regulatory process that investors may need to navigate, introducing additional deal timing and execution risks.
  • Successful deal execution requires an integrated regulatory strategy addressing merger control, FDI screening, and the FSR in parallel — each with distinct logic, timelines, and risk profiles that may require extensive commitments to mitigate.
Continue Reading Navigating European Regulatory Regimes for Defense Sector Investments and Deals

Introduction

In the space of just one week, the EU’s top court, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”), delivered two important judgments that clarify the scope of sport rule-making activities that can benefit from an antitrust exemption: the ROGON judgment on 9 July 2026, and the much more detailed RRC Sports judgment on 16 July 2026, which builds on and develops ROGON.  The sporting rules at play in these cases concerned football players’ agents, and more specifically those adopted by the German Football Association (ROGON judgment), and FIFA (RRC Sports judgment).  However, the principles set out in the ROGON and RRC Sports judgments will resonate beyond sport arenas to find potential application to rule-making by self-regulatory bodies in other sectors. 

Key Takeaways

  • The EU’s so-called ‘Meca Medina’ antitrust exemption can cover rules destined to ensure a league’s proper operation.  The ECJ recognizes that sports leagues operate as “ecosystems” and inevitably will need to adopt restrictions to ensure the proper functioning of such ecosystems.  It implies that the specificities of professional sport, where driven by public policy considerations, may justify exempting activities that would otherwise remain caught by the EU antitrust laws (Article 101 TFEU).
  • The Meca Medina antitrust exemption can apply to any part of these “ecosystems”.  The ECJ confirms that this exemption is not confined to league rules governing its members (aka clubs and players); it can also apply to league rules governing services rendered by other participants in the ecosystem, such as agents.
  • Determining whether a sporting rule qualifies for the Meca Medina antitrust exemption requires an individual assessment.  The ECJ looks at each agent-related rule or set of rules regulating the same aspect to determine whether it restricted competition by its very object and, if not, could meet the other conditions to get immunity from the EU antitrust laws.  In conducting this assessment, the ECJ gives a strong steer that most of the agent rules at play should not constitute “by object” restrictions and therefore could qualify for Meca Medina immunity.   
  • The Meca Medina antitrust exemption can only apply to sporting rules that pursue a public interest objective, making it critical to identify the dividing line between purely commercial objectives and public interest objectives.  That said, the exemption can apply to dual-faced sporting rules, namely rules that pursue both a public interest and a commercial objectives.      
  • The Meca Medina antitrust exemption is not limited to the rules on restrictive agreements (Article 101 TFEU) – it can also apply to single firm conduct (Article 102 TFEU) and restrictions to the EU free movement rules.  In the wake of its Superleague judgment, the ECJ aligns the analytic framework across both Article 101 and Article 102 TFEU.  The ECJ also confirms that this alignment extends to the EU free movement rules, such that the Meca Medina antitrust exemption can exempt impediments to the freedom to provide services protected by Article 56 TFEU.
Continue Reading ROGON and RRC Sports: The EU’s Top Court vindicates a pragmatic application of the antitrust sporting exemption to players’ agent regulations

For more than twenty years, FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (“RSTP”) have sought to balance the stability of football teams with player mobility. That balance was fundamentally challenged by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ” or the “Court”) in Case C-650/22 FIFA v Diarra (“Diarra”).

Less than two years later, on 10 June 2026, FIFA approved a new version of the RSTP due to officially enter into force on 1 January 2027.

The reform represents the most comprehensive overhaul of the transfer system since the introduction of the modern RSTP in 2001. While it responds directly to Diarra, it also reflects the ECJ’s insistence – primarily expressed in Superleague – that sports governing bodies must pursue legitimate objectives through rules that are transparent, objective and proportionate. Moreover, alongside the substantive amendments to the RSTP, FIFA introduced a new governance model under which future changes to the RSTP will be developed through structured social dialogue among players, clubs and leagues.

This blog examines the key EU competition law and free movement implications of the new RSTP. In particular, it considers how the revised rules reflect the principles identified in previous ECJ case law and how they reshape the competitive and regulatory framework governing player transfers.

Continue Reading From Diarra to FIFA’s New Player Transfer System: How EU Law is Reshaping Football’s Transfer Rules and Governance

On 30 April, the UAE adopted Cabinet Decision No. (59) of 2026 (“the 2026 Executive Regulations”), setting out the executive regulations for Federal Decree-Law No. (36) of 2023 on the Regulation of Competition. The 2026 Executive Regulations replace the previous implementing regulations adopted in 2014 under the former UAE competition law. They are expected to enter into force on 30 July 2026.

Taken together, the adoption of Federal Decree-Law 36 on Regulating Competition of 2023, Cabinet Resolution No. (3) of 2025 establishing the new filing thresholds, and the subsequent adoption of the 2026 Executive Regulations complete a long-anticipated overhaul of the UAE merger control framework. These measures mark a decisive shift towards a fully operational and modern merger control regime. The 2026 Executive Regulations significantly streamline the notification process, introduce enhanced timing certainty, and create a clear pathway for third parties to engage with the Competition Department of the Ministry of Economy & Tourism (“Competition Department”) to influence the outcome of merger reviews.

More broadly, the 2026 Executive Regulations introduce important changes to various aspects of UAE’s competition law framework, including measures relating to behavioural competition enforcement and procedures. In combination with other recent competition policy and enforcement actions, the 2026 Executive Regulations signal the UAE’s ambition to bring its competition and merger control framework in line with international best practice.

This article focuses on the main revisions to the UAE merger control framework, before briefly outlining the wider changes introduced to the UAE’s behavioural competition regime by the 2026 Executive Regulations.

Continue Reading The UAE’s New Merger Control Framework: What the 2026 Executive Regulations Mean for Dealmakers

On 2 June 2025, the European Commission (“Commission”) fined the food delivery companies Delivery Hero and Glovo EUR 329 million for engaging into cartel conduct through agreeing not to poach each other’s employees, exchanging competitively sensitive information, and allocating geographic markets.

The decision signals increased antitrust scrutiny of labour-related arrangements between rivals  and…

Continue Reading European Commission issues first no-poach decision in labour markets, warning against the collusive risks of minority shareholdings

In the past several months, two state courts in the District of Columbia and California decided motions to dismiss in cases alleging that the use of certain revenue management software violated state antitrust laws in the residential property rental management and health insurance industries.  In both industries, parallel class actions are pending in federal court alleging that the same software products facilitate per se illegal hub-and-spoke price-fixing conspiracies under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.  These two state court decisions may preview how federal courts handle similar questions in the federal cases.

Continue Reading State Courts Dismiss Claims Involving the Use of Revenue Management Software in Residential Rental and Health Insurance Industries

This year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is set to gain a range of new enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCC”) Act (the final text is now available here). The DMCC Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024. However, with certain exceptions, the Act’s provisions will not come into force until secondary legislation is passed. The CMA initially expected its new responsibilities to become operational in the Autumn, but this timeline may be delayed due to the UK’s election on 4 July. On the same day as the DMCC Act became law, the CMA published for consultation its new Digital Markets Competition Regime Guidance.

An outline of the key provisions of the DMCC Act can be found here. As the CMA sets the groundwork for exercising its powers under this new regime, this blog post considers five practical considerations for firms active in the UK.

Key takeaways:

  1. The CMA will administer the new regime through a specialist Digital Markets Unit, which was established over three years ago.
  2. The DMCC Act may diverge from the EU’s Digital Markets Act, both in the companies being designated, and the obligations imposed on designated companies.
  3. The interplay between the DMCC regime and existing regulatory obligations – particularly the GDPR – is likely to raise practical challenges.
  4. We expect the CMA to exercise its powers under the digital markets regime alongside existing antitrust tools (which the DMCC Act amends).
  5. The CMA’s jurisdictional thresholds to review mergers under the UK’s merger control regime will change as a result of the DMCC Act.
Continue Reading The UK’s New Digital Markets Regime: Some Key Takeaways

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCC”) Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 (the final text is now available here). The DMCC Act will only enter into force, however, when secondary commencement legislation has been enacted (with some minor exceptions). This is expected to occur in Autumn 2024, but it…

Continue Reading Overview of the UK’s New Digital Markets Regime

In line with its previous decision-making practice (see our previous sustainability blog posts here and here), on 8 May 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) declared the implementation of a new European industry standard for reusable pot plant trays compatible with competition law.

Since 2021, companies and associations from the European…

Continue Reading FCO gives green light for ‘greener’ plant trays