The report on Evaluation of past merger decisions in the UK digital sector is online

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has appointed Lear to carry out a study looking at 4 past merger decisions in the technology sector taken by the Office of Fair Trading, including the Facebook/Instagram and Google/Waze decisions.

The study investigates:

• the potential competition theories of harm to be assessed when evaluating mergers in digital sectors;
• whether the assessment in 4 digital merger clearance decisions was reasonable based on the evidence available at the time;
• whether the outcome of the decision has been detrimental to consumers based on the market evolution following the mergers.

The main findings of the study will be presented during the LEARtalk Digital Markets in Rome on June 13th.

The report is available  here
More info on the LEAR talk Digital Markets  here

New project for capacity building for the Albanian Competition Authority

Lear has been selected by the EBRD to provide technical assistance services to the Albanian Competition Authority (ACA). The project aims at promoting ACA’s advocacy role and strengthening the skills and competencies of ACA’s officials and case handlers, through targeted capacity building programmes on STATA, ECJ Jurisprudence (Art 101 and 102 of TFUE) and merger analysis. Read more

LEARTALK: Ex-post Assessment of Merger Control Decisions in Digital Markets – Rome 13 June

Lear will organize a workshop to present the results of a recent project carried out for the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the ex-post assessment of merger control decisions in digital markets
More info on the event here

Italian Competition Authority’s decision against Radio Taxi 3570 overturned in Court

The Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) upheld the appeal of Radio Taxi 3570 and annulled last year decision of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) for the alleged foreclosure effects of the non-compete clause which prevents taxi drivers associated with the three largest cab dispatching cooperatives in Rome from accepting calls for service from competitors. Read more

STATE AID TO SMEs: AN ASSESSMENT OF EU RULES

Lear, in consortium with Sheppard Mullin and DIW Berlin, has been appointed by the European Commission to carry out a study seeking to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of the rules that the Commission set out for Member States to provide aid to Small and Medium Enterprises by facilitating their access to risk capital and loans. Read more

CONCLUSION OF THE COMPETITION ADVOCACY PROJECT IN JAMAICA

In March 2019, Lear concluded the project for providing technical assistance to the Jamaica’s Fair Trading Commission (“FTC”) to strengthen its competition advocacy strategy. Key steps of the projects have been: an extensive review of all past advocacy efforts carried out by the FTC since 2005; Read more

Evaluation on the EU’s State aid rules for operating aid to airports

The Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission (DG COMP) has commissioned to a consortium led by Lear and participated by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and Sheppard Mullin, a study to support its evaluation of the rules regarding access to operating aid to airports under the EU Aviation Framework applicable as of 2014 (2014 Aviation Guidelines). Read more

COMPETITION ADVOCACY TRAINING AT THE FAIR TRADING COMMISSION IN JAMAICA

On March 19 and 20, Paolo Buccirossi and Salvatore Nava will be in Kingston, Jamaica, to deliver a training to the officials of the Jamaican Competition Authority (FTC). The training will conclude the assignment, which entailed identifying gaps in the advocacy efforts carried out by the FTC in recent years and devising an advocacy strategy for future initiatives. Read more

Vertical Restraints in e-commerce at OECD COMPETION OPEN DAY-VIDEO

OCDE Competition Open Day was held in Paris on 27 Febraury, where a range of provocative debates on issues and topics recently explored by the OECD Competition Committee were discussed. Paolo Buccirossi took part in the panel of vertical restraints in e-commerce, focused on three particularly common categories markets: selective distribution models, most-favoured-nation clauses and retail price maintenance.

Read more

Meeting on the final results of the project: “Enhancing Public Procurement Practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina”

On 26th of February 2019, the Final Meeting of the Project “Enhancing Public Procurement Practices” took place at the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in Sarajevo. The Project was financed by the EBRD, through UK Aid funds, and was implemented by Lear in partnership with the Bosnian company PPG Ltd. Read more