For all but cartel cases, the EC has been increasingly relying on commitment procedures to resolve competition concerns. Yet, despite their popularity, there is often confusion among commitments, settlements, and…

Seth Sacher, Mar 28, 2013 It may seem obvious that good trade policy can promote competition. That is, by opening up a domestic economy to increased trade, additional competitive pressures…

Paul Lugard, Martin Mollmann, Apr 01, 2013 No less than three recent high profile cases have put the EU antitrust commitment procedure in the spotlights. First, while the U.S. Federal…

Jose Gonzalez-Magaz, William Gordon, Mar 28, 2013 Parties seeking dual settlements with the European Commission and the U.S. antitrust agencies are challenged by their differing frameworks. Part of the complexity…

Ken Daly, Mar 28, 2013 In laudable efforts to increase its output, the European Commission has developed three tools-leniency, settlements, and commitments-to help it discover infringements of EU competition law,…

Stefano Grassani, Mar 28, 2013 If an “EU antitrust hot topic of the month” award were to be attributed for March 2013, the prize would certainly go to the issue…

Paul McGeown, Juliette Orologas, Mar 28, 2013 Until the European Commission slapped a U.S. $730 million fine on Microsoft at the beginning of March 2013 for failing to comply with…

Florian Wagner-von Papp, Mar 28, 2013 Article 9 Regulation (EC) 1/2003 introduced the commitment procedure into European Union (“EU”) law. What was initially expected to be a marginal modification of the…

Alexander Egorushkin, Mar 28, 2013 Over the last 10-20 years, the regulation of fines for antitrust violations has been amended several times in the United States and the European Union,…