Bethan John

The head of EU competition policy at Deutsche Telekom has warned that national competition authority powers to “call-in” below threshold mergers exacerbate legal uncertainty and called for amendments to the EU Merger Regulation.

Olivier Guersent has said that a further eight EU member states could gain powers to review below-threshold transactions by the end of next year.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has found it lacks jurisdiction to review Microsoft’s hiring of key Inflection AI staff due to current national thresholds, but local lawyers are sceptical of desired amendments to the country’s competition law to increase the agency’s ability to review AI partnerships.

Microsoft is facing a £1 billion class action claim for allegedly overcharging businesses seeking to license its products for use on rival cloud platforms, with onlookers already predicting the likelihood of a settlement.

The European Commission is “well aware” that the next couple of months are “crucial” for the credibility of the Digital Markets Act as an enforcement tool, according to a head of unit responsible for digital platforms.

The Competition and Markets Authority’s clearance of Vodafone/Three with a novel investment remedy has signalled a shift in UK merger enforcement that may echo beyond its borders, experts have said.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority looks set to end 2024 without issuing a promised update on its AI foundation models work, with a paper on AI accelerator chips and a joint statement with the country’s data protection regulator still outstanding.

Apple has immediately flagged that companies like Meta could abuse the Digital Markets Act’s interoperability provisions following the EU’s publication of draft requirements forcing it to further open up its products.

France’s Competition Authority has fined 12 companies €611 million for participating in a sprawling household appliance cartel – but SEB Group and Boulanger have vowed to appeal.

Nvidia’s below-threshold takeover of Run:ai raises no competition concerns, the European Commission has concluded after relying on Italy’s national call-in powers to take a closer look at the AI sector deal.