Insights

On September 3, 2024, the EU Court of Justice overturned the first-instance judgment of the EU General Court, which had held that the European Commission could review transactions that fall below EU and Member States' merger control thresholds through referrals by national competition authorities under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation (Case C-611/22 P, Illumina v Commission).

On July 2, 2024, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) found that three security companies, Seris, G4S and Securitas, had participated in serious cartel practices within the private security services sector from 2008 to 2020. The practices consisted of price-fixing, bid rigging, and no poach agreements. This decision is important for two reasons: because the fines imposed by the BCA amount to a substantial EUR 47 million and because this is the first time that the BCA has fined companies for a no poach arrangement.

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.