Insights

On February 26, the European Commission presented its Clean Industrial Deal (CID). As a follow-up to the European Green Deal, the CID aims to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry while at the same time accelerating the decarbonization of the economy.

On March 5, 2025, the European Commission presented a comprehensive Action Plan to boost the global competitiveness of the European Union’s automotive industry and support its transition to zero-emission, connected, and automated vehicles.

Just over a year ago, the notification obligations under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) became applicable. Since then, M&A transactions and bids for government contracts above certain thresholds must be notified to the European Commission. Pending the Commission’s review, the transaction cannot be completed, or the contract cannot be awarded. What lessons can be learned from the application of the FSR to date? Has the FSR proved to be an effective tool in leveling the playing field, or has its main effect been to burden companies with red tape, at the risk of discouraging investment in Europe?

On August 1, 2024, the European Commission published its draft Guidelines on abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. Their adoption would mark the first major update in over 15 years of the Commission’s guidance on the application of the prohibition of abuse of dominance laid down in Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The Commission’s 2008 Guidance on enforcement priorities in applying Article 82 of the EC Treaty to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings, which received only a limited update in 2023, were once hailed as a welcome move away from a legalistic, form-based approach to an effects-based approached informed by economics. Is the pendulum now swinging back to a more formalistic approach based on presumptions, shifting the burden of proof onto dominant undertakings and heralding an era of stricter enforcement?

At the beginning of the year, we brought to your attention that a number of important Belgian and EU legislative changes are likely to have an impact in 2024: there are new laws that have been adopted and proposals that are expected to firm up into law.

More than 25 years after the adoption of the original Market Definition Notice in 1997, the European Commission published a revised Market Definition Notice earlier this year. The definition of relevant markets is often the first step in a competition analysis and forms the basis for calculating undertakings’ market shares and thus their level of market power.

On June 20, 2023, the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy published a Joint Communication on the European Economic Security Strategy. The Strategy was adopted to reduce risks to the European Union’s economic security amid rising geopolitical tensions and rapid technological changes. The Strategy is structured according to a three-pillar approach: promoting competitiveness, protecting against risks and partnering with like-minded countries.

A number of important Belgian and EU legislative changes are likely to have an impact in 2024. On the one hand, there are new laws that have been adopted and will start to bite, and, on the other, there are proposals that are expected to firm up into law.

On July 1, 2023, the European Commission’s revised Guidelines on Horizontal Cooperation Agreements entered into force (see our previous alert for a comprehensive overview of the new rules, including the new horizontal block exemption regulations).

On July 1, 2023, the European Commission’s revised Guidelines on Horizontal Cooperation Agreements entered into force (see our previous alert for a comprehensive overview of the new rules, including the new horizontal block exemption regulations).

As from October 2023, companies receiving financial contributions from third countries will have to report these to the European Commission when engaging in M&A transactions or bidding for public contracts above certain thresholds. This alert guides you through the new notification obligations under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR): first, we situate these obligations within the overall set-up of the FSR; then we go into the detail of the notification obligations themselves; before concluding with practical advice on how to meet these new obligations.

On June 1, 2023, the European Commission published its new block exemption regulations on research and development agreements (R&D BER) and specialization agreements (Specialization BER), together referred to as the Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs). At the same time, it published its final Guidelines for Horizontal Cooperation Agreements (Horizontal Guidelines). The new HBERs will enter into force on July 1, 2023.

On April 20, 2023, the European Commission adopted a number of measures to simplify and streamline its merger review procedure. The changes are intended to speed up the review of transactions that are unlikely to raise competition concerns, thereby allowing the Commission to focus its resources on the most relevant cases. The new rules will enter into force on September 1, 2023.

Last year, the European Union (EU) legislature adopted a far-reaching regulation aimed at tackling the distortive effects on EU markets of financial support provided by non-EU countries to undertakings active in the EU (Foreign Subsidies Regulation or FSR). However, the FSR left many procedural details to be hammered out by the European Commission (EC) in an Implementing Regulation, to be adopted before the FSR itself starts to apply in July 2023. On 6 February 2023, the EC launched a much-anticipated public consultation regarding its draft Implementing Regulation, including two annexes containing notification forms for concentrations and public procurements. Stakeholders have until 6 March 2023 to submit comments.

As we wrote in an earlier client alert, the European Commission proposed the FSR in May 2021 to close a regulatory gap and level the playing field between undertakings receiving subsidies from EU Member States, which are subject to strict state aid rules, and recipients of third-country subsidies, which so far escaped scrutiny. The proposal followed a public consultation on the European Commission’s June 2020 White Paper on Foreign Subsidies.

On Tuesday, July 5th, the European Parliament adopted the Digital Services Act (DSA) with a resounding 539 votes in favor, 54 votes against and 30 abstentions. The DSA is but one part of the multifaceted European digital strategy and, together with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), makes up the Digital Services Package, initially proposed by the European Commission in December 2020 (see our previous alert of January 12, 2021). The DSA takes the form of a Regulation, directly applicable in all EU Member States, and will amend (but not fully replace) the 2000 e-Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC).

The proposed cooperation agreement (“the proposal”), which still has to be approved by the various Belgian parliaments, creates a mechanism to coordinate the exercise of the competences of the federal State and the federated entities in the area of FDI screening. It defines uniform notification thresholds and sets up the ISC as a one-stop-shop for all notifications of investments exceeding those thresholds.

On March 24, 2022, the European Union (EU) co-legislators (the European Parliament and the Council) reached political agreement on the final provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA aims at ensuring fair and contestable markets in the digital sector by imposing specific regulatory obligations on so-called “gatekeepers,” i.e., major digital platforms with a powerful and entrenched position which act as important gateways for businesses to reach end users. The European Commission (EC) will act as the central enforcer of the DMA. It will have extensive investigative powers and be able to impose hefty fines as well as behavioral and structural remedies (including the breaking up of companies). As an instrument of ex ante regulation, the DMA is designed to complement (not replace) the ex post enforcement of competition law, which is often viewed as too slow to effectively rein in the market power of “Big Tech” players.

On March 1, 2022, the European Commission published its draft revised block exemption regulations on research and development agreements (“R&D BER”) and specialization agreements (“Specialization BER”), together referred to as the Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations (“HBERs”). At the same time, it published draft revised Guidelines for Horizontal Cooperation Agreements (“Horizontal Guidelines”). The stated aim of the revision is to make it easier for companies to cooperate in ways that are economically desirable and contribute to the digital and green transition. The current HBERs are set to expire on December 31, 2022; it is therefore to be expected that the final revised HBERs and Horizontal Guidelines will be adopted before the end of this year.