Competition Law

Competition Law

We advise and represent clients in competition law on the basis that compliance must be assessed together with the structure of the relevant market and the client’s commercial practices. Relations with competitors, distribution channels, pricing and contractual arrangements are examined in detail so that legal risks can be identified, with the client’s business model, sector conditions and how the business actually operates taken as the starting point.

We carry competition-law assessments into daily operations as well as investment and acquisition decisions. In investigations before the Competition Authority we handle information requests, on-site inspections and defence preparation according to the file; in compliance work we prepare clear, workable internal rules that reflect the situations employees actually meet in their day-to-day activities.

Services

• Reviewing dealership, distribution, franchise and supply agreements for resale-price, exclusivity, territory and customer restrictions, and for online sales.
• Assessing competitor agreements, information exchange, pricing and market-sharing practices, and abuse-of-dominance risks.
• Examining notification duties in mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, and preparing and following Competition Board clearance filings.
• Assessing agreements and practices against block-exemption or individual-exemption conditions, and conducting negative-clearance and exemption applications.
• Supporting preliminary inquiries, investigations and dawn raids, and preparing responses and written and oral defences.
• Evaluating and conducting commitment, settlement and leniency applications where the file and conditions allow.
• Preparing competition-compliance programmes, internal policies and guidelines, and training managers and staff.
• Preparing complaints of competition infringements and following judicial review of Competition Board decisions.
• Advising and representing clients in damages claims arising from competition infringements.