The Thicket

• Published on June 5, 2025

  Strasbourg calling – ECHR majority CLEARS Competition Wiretap Case (But mind the dissenters)

  Ships Waste Oil Collector B.V. and Others v The Netherlands, Joined cases 2799/16, 2800/16, 3124/16 and 3205/16, Judgment of the ECHR Grand Chamber of 01/04/2025... Continue

• Published on May 21, 2025

  FIFA vs Agents: 1-0 at halftime – AG Emiliou Defends FIFA’s Football Agent Regulations

  Introduction In two significant cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Advocate General Emiliou (the AG) delivered his eagerly awaited opinions... Continue

• Published on May 20, 2025

  Merger Control and media plurality: fitting a Square peg into a round hole?

  On 14 May 2025, the Financieel Dagblad (FD) reported that the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) plans to conditionally approve the acquisition of RTL... Continue

• Published on May 1, 2025

  A recap of the Geradin Partners webinar on Dutch Competition Law: a year in review and what’s ahead

  On 27 March 2025, the Amsterdam Office of Geradin Partners hosted a webinar on the developments within competition law in the Netherlands. During the webinar,... Continue

• Published on April 30, 2025

  The EP’s proposed amendments to the FDI Regulation: towards more centralised FDI screening?

  Amid rising geopolitical tensions, the International Trade Committee of European Parliament adopted a proposal to amend the EU FDI Regulation (the EP Proposal) on 8... Continue

• Published on February 6, 2025

  Sumal three years on: a hint of Double Dutch and the Dutch courts lead the way…? 

  Introduction  In 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) Sumal judgement promised clarification on the issue of downward liability in private enforcement... Continue

• Published on October 8, 2024

  The CJEU rules in the Diarra case – FIFA’s transfer rules restrict free movement and competition

  From a competition law perspective, sport is, in some ways, unlike other industries. It may be driven by ideals other than profit, such as sporting... Continue

• Published on September 13, 2024

  “Like ships in the night” – the Court of Appeal’s Hydrocortisone judgment vindicates CMA and brings welcome order to a procedure that had been spinning out of control

  The CMA’s pharma cases have generated a lot of work for the UK’s antitrust lawyers and economists, with a good proportion of practitioners having worked... Continue

• Published on May 28, 2024

  Competition law in sports: it’s time to talk about merger control

  When the US hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994, it was said to have spent $500 million on the tournament. Fast forward to 2022,... Continue

• Published on May 2, 2024

  AG Opinion in FIFA v BZ – Further competition trouble for football rules

  Most professional football transfers happen when a player is free to leave because their contract expires, or when current club, player, and new club come... Continue