When State aid overlaps with market based mechanisms: an example from energy markets

The Lear Competition Note (LCN) discusses the existing literature on the interaction between State aid intervention that incentivizes the investment in decarbonisation technologies and the market-based mechanism relying on the European Union Emission Trading System (ETS). Now in its fourth phase, the EU ETS is often considered the most effective policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Lear Competition Note is available here
Read more on our engagments here 

THE ITALIAN COMPETITION AUTHORITY CLOSES THE INVESTIGATION AGAINST COBAT AND COBAT RIPA

Lear, together with GOP, has assisted the consortium active in the sector of spent lead-acid batteries and accumulators, in its defensive strategy against the allegation of exclusionary practices and has contributed to the submission of commitments to address the competition concerns identified by the Authority. The ICA has closed the investigation without imposing sanctions.

Found out more here  
Read more on our engagement here 

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PUBLISHED EEAG AND GBER REVISION SUPPORT STUDY PREPARED WITH LEAR’S CONTRIBUTION

Lear, together with DIW Berlin, E.CA Economics, Sheppard Mullin and University of East Anglia, has been appointed by the European Commission to carry out a background study on State aid in the field of environmental protection and energy. The results will support the Commission in the revision of the EU Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy (EEAG) as well as the respective parts of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The study addressed three broad topics, structured in three separate study items. Read more

#LCF2021 – VIDEOS ARE NOW ONLINE!

The Lear Competition Festival is officially over! We are extremely satisfied with how it turned out and we are very happy with the quality of the debate. 
The videos of the 3-day festival are available at https://bit.ly/3wqToi8

Lear Competition Festival 2021 – Virtual Edition from 9 to11 June

The program includes:

• 2 plenary sessions held by panels of renowned academics and practitioners
• 1 roundtable with the chairs of National Competition Authorities from the UK, Greece and Spain
• 4 sessions devoted to hot cases and tools for antitrust analysis, managed by LCF partners including @Dentons, @Freshfields Bruchkaus Deringer, @Orrick and @Osborne Clarke
• 1 book presentation and ensuing discussion on the ex post evaluation of competition policy interventions
• Presentation of the Young Talent Competition Award, a unique opportunity for young economists and lawyers rewarding the best research proposal in the competition field
• The LCF talk, an in-depth interview with Olivier Guersent, the Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, and Andreas Schwab, Internal Markets Committee Rapporteur at the European Parliament, conducted by our media partner PaRR

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New CMA Merger Assessment Guidelines inspired by Lear’s recommendations

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has updated its Merger Assessment Guidelines to make its approach to merger assessment more in line with recent developments, especially in the digital landscape. In revising its Guidelines, the CMA paid particular attention to the role that changes in technology have been playing in shaping the way firms compete with one another. The new Guidelines are built on Lear’s recommendations on how to approach the assessment of digital mergers included in the “Ex-post Assessment of Merger Control Decisions in Digital Markets” report. These recommendations were broadly meant to address the risk of under-enforcement in digital markets. Read more

Work undertaken by Lear economists selected for the 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards

We are pleased to announce that work undertaken by Lear economists has been selected for the 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards by the George Washington University and Concurrences.

The first nomination has been received in the category of Best Soft Law writings for the Competition Advocacy and Communication Strategy that Lear prepared for the Albanian Competition Authority as part of a wider technical assistance project financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

You can vote for Lear using this link

The second nomination is in the category of Best Academic writings, for the article “Merger Policy in Digital Markets: an Ex-post Assessment” published in the Journal of Competition Law & Economics in 2020. The paper presents a retrospective evaluation of pivotal merger control decisions in the digital sector, including Facebook/Instagram and Google/Waze.

You can vote for Lear using this link

THE MODE OF COMPETITION: WHERE TO START AND WHEN YOU STOP IN MERGER ANALYSIS

The best way to begin an economic analysis is to ask a relevant question. In a merger analysis the relevant question is: will the post-merger new entity have the ability and the incentive to exert a higher market power? But which analyses are best suited to answer these questions? This note argues that the best way to make this call is to understand first how firms compete in the market, something economists refer to as the “mode of competition”. Read more

NEW PROJECT TO SUPPORT THE ARMENIAN STATE COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION

Lear has been selected by the EBRD to provide technical assistance to the Armenian State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (“SCPEC RA”). The aim of the project is to support the institutional development, policy enforcement capacity, and advocacy activities of the SCPEC RA, through a comprehensive capacity building programme based on extensive trainings, advocacy support, market studies and secondary legislation drafting. Read more

HORIZONTAL MERGER ASSESSMENT IN THE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY

Lear was appointed by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) to assist in the phase II review of the proposed merger between Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. (KSOE) and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME), which are among the largest shipbuilders worldwide. Read more