Antitrust partner James Webber wrote a chapter titled “State Aid and Sustainability” for Concurrences’ latest book Competition Law, Climate Change & Environmental Sustainability. In it, James reflects on European Union State aid rules as a means to deliver the European Green Deal, looking at how the current rules help and hinder the achievement of the Green Deal ambition – and what might be done to improve them.

When the UK left the transition period it also left behind the EU’s State aid rules.  The Government is now consulting until 31 March on the subsidy control system that should replace State aid.

Shearman & Sterling has launched a new podcast called Barrier Blasters, a series dedicated to enhancing diversity and inclusion in the communities in which we live and work. The podcast will feature conversations with individuals and industry leaders who have challenged the status quo, broken through barriers, and in doing so, have created opportunities for others.

On February 2, 2021, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”). The new size of transaction threshold is $92 million. The new HSR Act thresholds will go into effect on March 4, 2021 and will apply to all transactions closing on or after that date.

Partner Ben Gris (Washington, D.C.-Antitrust) and Counsel Sara Ashall (Brussels-Antitrust) authored the chapter “European Union and United States: Antitrust and Data” in the GDR Insight Handbook 2021 published by Global Dispute Resolution on December 21, 2020.

For many businesses, Asia provides a wealth of opportunities, but there are also risks in doing business in a diverse region with legal systems and practices that may be unfamiliar to those more used to operating in Europe and the Americas.

In our May 2020 Competition Litigation Update, we covered the hearing of the landmark Supreme Court case of Mastercard Incorporated v Walter Hugh Merricks [2020] UKSC 51.

For many businesses, Asia provides a wealth of opportunities, but there are also risks in doing business in a diverse region with legal systems and practices that may be unfamiliar to those more used to operating in Europe and the Americas.

On September 24, 2020 the European Commission (EC) launched proposals for a new EU-wide regime to regulate crypto-assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the financial sector through a Digital Finance Package. Key issues relevant to companies and stakeholders in digital finance are set out below.

For many businesses, Asia provides a wealth of opportunities, but there are also risks in doing business in a diverse region with legal systems and practices that may be unfamiliar to those more used to operating in Europe and the Americas.

On November 6, 2020 the U.K. Supreme Court handed down a judgment relating to the Servier U.K. competition damages litigation, in which it made key observations on when a judicial decision of the EU courts is binding in other proceedings.

On 11 November 2020, the U.K. Government announced long-awaited and extensive reforms to the U.K. foreign investment regime.

The LIBOR transition is not simply a “bank problem.” With the looming transition deadline of year-end 2021, we specifically designed a guide for corporates entitled, How Best to Navigate the LIBOR Transition: Challenges and Solutions for Corporate Treasurers and CFOs, where we discuss the following five key steps for a successful transition:

Partners Matthew Readings (London-Antitrust) and Elvira Aliende Rodriguez (Brussels-Antitrust); counsel Mathias Stöcker (Frankfurt-Antitrust); and associate Ruba Noorali (London-Antitrust) authored various chapters of the International Comparative Legal Guide to: Cartels & Leniency 2021.

This is the first edition of UK Litigation Review—an annual publication focused on outcomes, trends and developments in civil litigation over the past year of relevance to both practitioners and clients. This publication addresses material developments in key areas of English law and procedure, and other matters of interest from the past year such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on English litigation. 

Partners David Higbee, Djordje Petkoski and associate Matt Modell (all Antitrust-Washington, D.C.) authored the chapter “United States: Cartels” in the Antitrust Review of the Americas 2021 published by Global Competition Review on October, 20, 2020.

In her first speech upon being reappointed as Competition Commissioner, Commissioner Vestager announced that a review would be undertaken of the Commission’s Market Definition Notice (the “Notice”); the consultation on that review closed Friday,  October 9th. The Notice is an important document in European competition law; it sets out the analytical framework under which the Commission decides who competes with who, a process which has determinative implications in both merger control and antitrust enforcement. The Notice is however older than most law firm trainees and clearly showing its age. Revising the Notice now can act as a release valve in response to calls for radical reforms to the merger review process in the wake of its controversial Siemen / Alstom prohibition, without regulation or treaty change, which could open a pandora’s box for the Commission. The consultation also needs to be considered in the context of a plethora of other reform initiatives to EU competition law aimed at harnessing U.S. tech giants.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ” and collectively, the “Agencies”) recently proposed changes to two aspects of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR Act”). The proposed rules are subject to public comment and are unlikely to come into effect for at least a few months to a year or even longer.