Competition law – Legal knowledge portal

AC Treuhand and the facilitating of cartels

November 6, 2015

In a judgment of 22 October 2015 the European Court of Justice (Court) has ruled that a consultancy firm can be held liable for a breach of the cartel prohibition. This is the case when the consultancy firm actively and with professional knowledge contributes to the implementation or observance of ... Read More »

Best price clause of the HRS hotel booking portal violates antitrust law

April 3, 2015

(Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf, decision dated January 9, 2015 VI – Kart. 1/14 (V) [not yet legally binding]) The clause of a hotel booking portal holding a dominant position in the market that prohibits registered hotel operators from undercutting the room prices offered on the booking portal through other ... Read More »

Online sales and selective distribution of brand products

November 11, 2014

In the article ‘Online sales and selective distribution of brand products’ in Twinkle Magazine, Eric Janssen and Joost Becker explain the online sale of brand products by selective distributors from the perspective of trademark and competition law. Trademark law gives producers very extensive possibilities of imposing requirements on their retailers ... Read More »

1 page/annex too many: leave it out of consideration or is entire tender invalid?

September 5, 2014

What should be done if the instructions stipulate that the action plan may not exceed ten pages and an action plan is submitted containing ten pages plus an annex in A3 format? Should the annex be left out of consideration or should the whole tender be declared invalid? The tender ... Read More »

BkartA publishes case report in Adidas matter

August 21, 2014

On 4 July 2014 the German competition authority, the BkartA, announced in a press release that Adidas had amended the conditions for the online sale of its brand products. The BkartA had investigated these conditions and come to the (preliminary) opinion that they were not consistent with competition rules. In ... Read More »

Advertisement “We have 1 room left” once again found to be misleading

August 19, 2014

The advertisement text “Last chance! We have 1 room left” on the website of Booking.com has once again been the subject of a complaint submitted to the RCC (Dutch Advertising Standards Authority). This time it concerned an ad text for the Trimstone Manor Country House Hotel on Booking.com. We already ... Read More »

OLG Schleswig-Holstein: prohibition of sale via online platforms at odds with the ban on cartels

August 14, 2014

The Oberlandesgericht (OLG) Schleswig-Holstein, the appeal court of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, ruled in a judgement of 5 June 2014 that Casio Europe (Casio) may not prohibit approved specialist photography shops from selling digital cameras via online platforms like eBay and Amazon. The OLG said the prohibition was at ... Read More »

No rooms left!? Online availability of hotel rooms and advertising law in Europe

July 11, 2014

Nowadays, it is very common for consumers to book hotel rooms on booking sites. The offer is overwhelming. It is easy to find a quaint little hotel in, say, downtown Amsterdam. Some would even say that it is fun to compare hotels via the internet. Operating an online booking site ... Read More »

Board of Appeal of Dutch Advertising Code Committee: Booking.com misleads customers with promotional texts

July 8, 2014

The notice ‘We have only 1 room left!’ on the booking website Booking.com is misleading, according to a decision by the Board of Appeal of the Dutch Advertising Code Committee given on 4 July 2014. Booking.com misleads customers by suggesting that hotel rooms are nearly sold out, while rooms are ... Read More »

On the prowl

June 11, 2014

There’s a new beast on the prowl in the UK legal jungle. Though still lurking in the shadows, it is due to emerge from the trees into the open sunlight come springtime. And it’s a big one. Its name – the Competition and Markets Authority – isn’t exactly thrilling. Nor ... Read More »

‘Dual pricing’ and online sale

May 23, 2014

Many manufacturers are annoyed by the fact that their distributors sell products via their own online stores. After all, online sale has an impact on offline sale. Some manufacturers use ‘dual pricing’ in an attempt to discourage distributors from selling products via their own website. In December of last year ... Read More »

BKA critical about the prohibition on sale via online marketplaces

May 16, 2014

In a press release of 28 April 2014, German competition authority the Bundeskartellamt (BKA) announced its view that manufacturers may not prohibit their distributors from selling their products via online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, because this kind of prohibition restricts competition. The preliminary opinion from the BKA The BKA ... Read More »

Dutch Advertising Code Committee: Booking.com’s website misleads consumers

May 15, 2014

In a decision of 24 April 2014 the Dutch Advertising Code Committee (Reclame Code Commissie, RCC) concluded that Booking.com misleads consumers when it indicates on its website that only one room at a particular establishment is still available for a certain price. According to the RCC, by doing this Booking.com ... Read More »

Outsourcing of a department can be a concentration requiring notification

May 14, 2014

In an informal opinion of 22 October 2013 the ACM explained when the transfer of assets (an assets/liabilities transaction) is a concentration requiring notification in the sense of section 27 of the Competition Act. The case The case is presented rather cryptically in the informal opinion. It is not clear ... Read More »

Category Archives: Competition law