Forward

The back-to-school season has arrived, bringing a flood of important developments. In the realm of Generative AI, competition enforcement is intensifying as various competition authorities investigate AI partnerships and seek to better understand evolving market dynamics.

In Europe, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is progressing towards a more collaborative approach, with gatekeepers and regulators working together to implement and enforce the Act.

In antitrust, both the European Court of Justice and competition authorities have been highly active, issuing several significant rulings and statements.

On the digital policy front, the new European Commission is set to propose multiple digital initiatives, which will be distributed among several Commissioners under the supervision of Henna Virkkunen, the newly appointed Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy.

I am available to help you navigate these developments in digital and competition policies and to explore their potential impact on your business.

I will be available for meetings on the following dates:

• Brussels: October 2–4

• London: October 9–12

• Budapest: October 21–23

I look forward to discussing with you these topics in person.

My Work

Analysis: How Should Europe Revamp Merger Policy for Non-Notifiable Deals?: The Commission should continue to accept referrals from Member States and consider revising its merger policy by introducing mandatory notification of mergers in certain sectors and an ex-post control of mergers. The analysis

Opinion: Competition Policy and the Limits of Europe’s Competitiveness Agenda: Loosening European competition policy to allow more cross-border consolidations will not address the root cause of Europe’s competitiveness problem. Instead, Europe must complete the single market with more business-friendly EU laws. The opinion

Training: Summer School on Digital and Competition Policies: The summer school offers a comprehensive overview of the fast-changing regulatory and market developments related to digital and AI markets. The summer school

This month, I was in Uzbekistan to train the staff of the Uzbekistan Competition Authority, focusing on their recent DMA-like legislation. It has been a real pleasure to teach here and gain insights into the market dynamics of such a young and fast-growing digital economy. I’m here to help and would be happy to assist you with your challenges as well. Feel free to reach out!

Event: AI and competition law: I will be speaking on AI and competition with László Bak (Vice-President of the GVH), Linsey McCallum (Deputy Director General, DG COMP), and Ana Sofia Rodrigues (Member of the Board, Portuguese Competition Authority) at the 50th European Competition Day organised by the Hungarian Competition Authority on 22 October. Registration

Research projects: Let’s work together

I am open to collaborating on digital and competition research projects focusing on generative AI, mobile ecosystems, the transition from search to answer engines, platform regulations, international coherence of digital market regulations, the intersection between competition and privacy, and the relationship between competition and competitiveness. Additionally, I am seeking funding opportunities from corporations or public institutions to support these endeavours. Please don't hesitate to reach out at your convenience to delve deeper into these topics.

I will also gladly intervene as an expert to help you solve DMA-related issues.

News

Generative AI

Enforcement is increasing. Competition authorities are stepping up their scrutiny of AI partnerships and collaborations and seeking to understand emerging market dynamics better.

Microsoft/InflectionAI Arrangement. Microsoft has hired most of InflectionAI’s staff and secured non-exclusive licensing of its proprietary rights. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cleared the arrangement, noting it is unlikely to raise competition concerns for the development and supply of consumer chatbots and foundation models.

 In Europe, the European Commission considered the deal a "concentration" under the EU Merger Regulation due to a transfer of assets that implied a structural change. However, the deal escapes EU merger review because it does not meet the jurisdictional thresholds. Following the Illumina v. Commission ruling, Member States withdrew their referral requests. The Commission continues working with Member States to assess whether the deal could still be reviewed at the national level. UK investigation. EU investigation

Amazon/Covariant Arrangement. Amazon hired some Covariant staff and acquired non-exclusive licenses for its robotic foundation models. Amazon

Brazil investigates AI partnerships. The Brazilian competition authority is investigating various AI partnerships, including Amazon/Anthropic, Microsoft/MistralAI, and Google/CharacterAI. The investigations

New studies on Generative AI. In Europe, The European Commission has published a policy brief on market dynamics in generative AI, including an outline for addressing competition concerns. In Australia, the Australian competition authority released a study on multimodal foundation models (MFMs), examining their impact on competition, consumer protection, media, privacy, and online safety in the digital platform context. The EU paper. The Australian study

Events on Generative AI. In Canada, the Canadian competition authority hosted an event focused on Generative AI. In France, the French competition authority is holding an online event on Generative AI on 30 September. Canadian event. French event

Europe's AI strategy: Europe is advancing its AI capabilities by setting up AI factories, enabling model developers to train AI models on European supercomputers, and providing access to necessary data and computing resources. Additionally, the Commission supports firms committing to the AI Pact in complying with the AI Act. AI factories. AI Pact

Digital Markets Act

A participative approach. The Commission collaborates with gatekeepers and regulators to improve the DMA’s implementation and enforcement.

DMA and data protection. The Commission, alongside the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), is developing guidance to address data protection issues related to the DMA. The announcement

Apple’s Interoperability: The Commission is assisting Apple with the implementation of some interoperability requirements under the DMA, marking a participative approach to engaging with gatekeepers and stakeholders. The investigation

Antitrust

Antitrust in Action: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) and competition authorities have been active with several key developments.

ECJ decisions: The Court confirmed the Google Shopping and Apple Tax decisions and clarified when price parity clauses may infringe competition law in the Booking.com case. It also ruled that the Commission cannot accept referral requests under Article 22 EUMR in cases where Member States cannot assess a merger in the Illumina case. Additionally, the General Court partially confirmed the Qualcomm decision and annulled the Google AdSense ruling. Finally, Advocate General Medina argued that Google’s refusal to provide third-party access to its Android Auto platform may breach competition law in the Google Auto case in Italy. Google (Search) shopping. Apple Tax. Booking. Illumina. Qualcomm. AdSense. Google Auto

ECN on the exclusionary abuses. The European Competition Network (ECN) has welcomed draft guidelines on exclusionary abuses, signalling further developments in antitrust policy at the EU and national levels. The ECN

Evaluation of antitrust procedure: The Commission released an evaluation of Regulation 1/2003, potentially paving the way for revisions under the new European Commissioner. The evaluation

Google Ad Tech investigations. The UK’s CMA found Google is self-preferencing its ad tech services, with similar probes ongoing in the US and Europe. In Europe, Google has reportedly proposed selling part of its ad tech business to address competition concerns, but publishers have deemed these remedies insufficient. In the US, Google maintains that the ad tech sector is competitive, with various rivals and customers switching between services. The UK investigation. The US trial. The EU investigation. The Google remedies. Google’s response to the US trial

Microsoft cloud licensing: Google filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission, accusing it of anticompetitive cloud licensing practices. Microsoft recently made commitments to address these concerns with several cloud providers—excluding Google. Google. Microsoft commitment

Competition and data protection in mobile apps: The French competition authority has collaborated with the data protection authority to ensure data protection-related practices in mobile apps do not distort competition, particularly in favour of large online platforms. The competition opinion. The data protection opinion

Draghi report on competition policy. The influential Draghi Report calls for a revamp of Europe’s competition policy to improve competitiveness, including loosening merger policy and introducing market investigations that allow the Commission to impose remedies. Draghi report

New European Commission. Teresa Ribera Rodríguez will lead the competition department, supported by Henna Virkkunen and Stéphane Séjourné for enforcing the DMA and  the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, respectively. Mission letters

Vestager’s Two Terms. Margrethe Vestager will discuss her experience over the past two terms in a conversation with Assimakis Komninos on 2 October in Brussels. Registration

Digital Policies

Digital focus of the new commission. Digital policy remains a priority for the new European Commission, with responsibilities for digital files distributed among several Commissioners under the leadership of Henna Virkkunen, the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy. Mission letters