Following COVID-19 outbreak, on March 19th, the European Commission adopted a Temporary Framework to enable Member States to use the full flexibility foreseen under State aid rules to support the economy. The legal basis for the Temporary Framework is Article 107(3)(b) TFEU, which allows the Commission to declare compatible with the single European market aid…
On May 16th, 2019, the European Commission announced that it has entered into two settlements decisions with five banks (Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, JPMorgan and MUFG), which have been fined €1.07 billion for taking part in two cartels in the Spot Foreign Exchange market for 11 currencies – namely Euro, British Pound,…
On May 13th, 2019, the European Commission fined (AB InBev) more than €200 million for abusing its dominant position on the Belgian beer market by hindering cheaper imports of its Jupiler beer from the Netherlands into Belgium. AB InBev is the world’s biggest beer brewer. Its most popular beer brand in Belgium is Jupiler, which…
On April 29th, 2019, the European Commission announced that it has made the commitments offered by Mastercard and Visa legally binding. Therefore, the companies should significantly reduce (on average by around 40%) their multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for payments in the European Economic Area (EEA) with consumer cards issued elsewhere. Inter-regional interchange fees are MIFs…
