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Specialist news and analysis on legal risk and regulation

Top News

Teresa Ribera, the commissioner-designate responsible for competition at the European Commission, in Brussels, on Nov. 26, 2024.

Antitrust, DealRisk®, Mergers and Acquisitions, State Aid

November 28, 2024 | Nicholas Hirst and Lewis Crofts

Europe

Vernet to lead competition team in EU commissioner Ribera’s cabinet
A woman takes a photo on her smartphone of a forest floor covered in bluebells in the Lake District, Cumbria, UK

Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy and Security, Technology

November 28, 2024 | Patricia Figueiredo

Europe

OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft to get clarity on UK data protection law
Security camera in Sydney, Australia.

Data Privacy and Security

November 28, 2024 | Ryan Cropp and James Panichi

Oceania

Lawmakers adopt slimmed-down overhaul of Australia's aging privacy laws

Antitrust View More

Romanian hydrology institute raided over possible dominance abuse

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Romania's National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management has been subject to an on-site inspection, over suspicions that it abused its market power with regard to the supply of hydrological... (more story)

Pet-food sector raided in Greece over antitrust suspicions

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Companies active in the import, production, wholesale and retail of dog and cat food have received surprise visits from competition officials, the Hellenic Competition Commission said today. The ... (more story)

Google Play Store under Indian antitrust probe for money gaming app

November 29, 2024 | Freny Patel

Asia

Google's handling of real money gaming app listings on the Play Store has led the Indian antitrust authority to raise concerns over the use of alleged unfair business practices. The Competition Commission of I... (more story)

Artificial Intelligence View More

'Acqui-hire' takeovers can draw merger scrutiny, German regulator says

November 29, 2024 | Andrew Boyce

Europe

"Less-traditional" types of acquisitions, such as the hiring of key staff, can be investigated, Germany's competition authority said today, while announcing that it would not formally investigate Microsoft’s a... (more story)

EDPB to support establishment of AI regulatory cooperation mechanism

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: The chair of the European Data Protection Board has replied to the director of the EU’s AI Office, noting that consistency and cooperation with other regulatory authorities is a strategic priorit... (more story)

Selling GEDI archive to OpenAI could breach EU law, Italian authority says

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Gruppo GEDI, an Italian newspaper publisher, has received a formal warning from the country’s data watchdog over its plan to sell its archive to OpenAI for training its artificial intelligence mo... (more story)

Mergers and Acquisitions View More

ABC Technologies-TI Fluid deal needs clearance in several countries

November 29, 2024 | Jon Menon

Europe

ABC Technologies’ 1 billion-pound buyout of British automotive components company TI Fluid Systems is conditional on antitrust clearance in several countries including the UK, the EU and the US, in addition to... (more story)

Microsoft’s Inflection AI hires escape German merger review

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff, including its co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, doesn’t qualify for German merger review due to the AI startup’s “minor” activities in the country, the Bunde... (more story)

Iceland’s Festi settles probe into N1 merger commitments

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Icelandic conglomerate Festi has announced a settlement with the Icelandic competition authority over a probe into whether the company breached commitments it made for approval of a merger with f... (more story)

Data Privacy and Security View More

Digital platforms evaluated by Japanese industry-ministry panel

November 29, 2024

Asia

MLex Summary: A monitoring panel at the Japanese industry ministry that is examining large digital platforms’ relations with business users in online malls, app stores, and digital ads said in a draft report t... (more story)

Japanese panel proposes legal measures to introduce active cyberdefense

November 29, 2024

Asia

MLex Summary: A Japanese government panel is proposing legal measures to introduce an active cyberdefense system. The panel said operators of key infrastructure should report security incidents and attacks on ... (more story)

Boosting cross-border data flows among China's plan to bolster digital finance

November 29, 2024

Asia

MLex Summary: China will promote and regulate the cross-border flow of financial data, unify compliance standards and provide guidelines for financial institutions as part of measures to lay the foundation for... (more story)

Financial Crime View More

Swiss bank Lombard Odier charged with money laundering over 'robber baron' Karimova links

November 29, 2024 | Martin Coyle

Europe

Swiss private lender Banque Lombard Odier & Cie and a former employee have been charged with “aggravated money laundering” connected to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of former Uzbekistan president Islam Karim... (more story)

UK FCA’s name-and-shame plan criticized by financial services minister

November 28, 2024 | Phoebe Seers

Europe

The UK’s minister for financial services said today that she raised concerns about the Financial Conduct Authority’s “name and shame” plan with the regulator several times. “The messaging around it was dreadfu... (more story)

Sberbank appeals SRB’s decision not to resolve it at EU court

November 28, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: MeSoFa Vermögensverwaltungs, formerly Sberbank Europe, is at the EU's General Court today to fight the Single Resolution Board's decision not to resolve the bank when it collapsed in 2022 under t... (more story)

Financial Services View More

NBFIs found vulnerable to shocks in UK BOE’s first stress test (correct*)

November 29, 2024 | Sofia Gerace

Europe

Non-bank financial intermediaries could see significant losses if financial conditions were to get worse, the Bank of England said today. The BOE had asked 50 firms* to consider a hypothetical scenario where c... (more story)

UK banks could weather a severe global downturn, BOE finds

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: UK banks would maintain a strong capital position even if financial and economic conditions were to be “substantially worse than expected,” the Bank of England said in its stress test results rel... (more story)

EU financial sector gets harmonized rules for Eurosystem framework

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: The European Central Bank has agreed on measures to foster harmonization, flexibility and risk efficiency of the collateral framework. The Eurosystem has been operating with two collateral framew... (more story)

Trade View More

EU measures on sweetcorn from Thailand come under expiry review

November 29, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Punitive dumping duties in place on EU imports of prepared or preserved sweetcorn from Thailand will now undergo a review, to see if their expiry could result in continued dumping and harm to EU ... (more story)

Adoption of EU competitiveness plan torpedoed by nuclear energy spat

November 28, 2024 | Stefano Porciello

Europe

Germany’s opposition to nuclear energy financing has prevented full adoption by EU governments of a competitiveness plan for the bloc, with national economy ministers failing to reach consensus at a meeting to... (more story)

EU duties to counter Chinese subsidies are sound, top court rules

November 28, 2024 | Joanna Sopinska

Europe

The EU's punitive duties to counter Chinese cross-border subsidies for glass-fiber fabrics and rovings made in Egypt are legally sound, the bloc's highest court ruled today. In a landmark judgment, the court r... (more story)

State Aid View More

Starbucks, Fiat, Amazon see EU close state-aid probes into tax deals

November 28, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: State aid investigations into Starbucks, Fiat and Amazon over their tax treatment in the Netherlands and Luxembourg have been closed, with the European Commission confirming the arrangements didn... (more story)

Casework shows FSR isn’t protectionist, EU’s Guersent says

November 26, 2024 | Nicholas Hirst

Europe

Just under half of all companies needing EU approval for an acquisition due to the presence of foreign subsidies are from the bloc, which contradicts claims the tool is protectionist, according to top EU enfor... (more story)

Airport operator Swedavia can get Covid-19 support, EU watchdog says

November 26, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: Swedavia, the operator of international and regional airports in Sweden, may receive over 122 million euros in state funding to offset damages it suffered during the pandemic, the European Commis... (more story)

Energy View More

Eiopa seeks feedback on natural catastrophes awareness tool

November 28, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority is seeking feedback on its proposal for an awareness tool that would help EU citizens understand how climate change might impact their p... (more story)

German power distribution exemption not in line with EU law, top court says

November 28, 2024

Europe

MLex Summary: German power supply rules exempting self-consumption facilities used to transport electricity from certain obligations of a distribution system operator are not in line with EU electricity market... (more story)

‘Omnibus’ legislation proposal could be expected soon, EU official says

November 28, 2024 | Joanna Sopinska

Europe

Companies that are facing burdensome due-diligence reporting obligations might see the European Commission put forward a proposal at the beginning of its new mandate for an “omnibus” legislation, senior EU off... (more story)

Technology View More

Shanghai online platforms begin implementing guidelines to protect minors

November 28, 2024

Asia

MLex Summary: Twenty key online platforms based in Shanghai, including Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Ximalaya and Pinduoduo, are beginning to implement trial compliance guidelines to fulfill obligations to protect mi... (more story)

Google advises Japan to tailor smartphone rules, avoid DMA pitfalls

November 28, 2024

Asia

MLex Summary: During a hearing with the Japan Fair Trade Commission panel discussing implementation rules for the smartphone-software law, Google advised Japan to create tailored local rules. Some Google measu... (more story)

Google says Canadian agency's adtech antitrust complaint ignores intense market competition

November 28, 2024

North America

MLex Summary: Google said the Canadian Competition Bureau's lawsuit against it for anticompetitive conduct in the advertising-technology markets ignores the intense competition where ad buyers and sellers have... (more story)