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Lobbying.  The descriptor we use for seeking to influence key decision makers. It’s been a part of commercial life for centuries and many societal structures were and are built on it such as the medieval guilds, modern trade associations, and a myriad of other bodies who exist to influence, persuade and argue.  Law firms too. …

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The 1998 Good Friday Agreement (also known as the Belfast Agreement), which brought to an end three decades of inter-communal violence, also heralded the advent of 23 years of increased cross-border trade and cooperation as well as an increase in Irish exports to the UK.  That ease of access and trade was facilitated by the…

On 6 May 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published the findings of its evaluation of the horizontal block exemption regulations for Research & Development (“R&D BER”) and specialisation agreements (“Specialisation BER”, together “HBERs”), as well as the accompanying Horizontal Guidelines (“Evaluation”).

The Commission launched the Evaluation in 2019 to assess the future relevance of the HBERs and the Horizontal Guidelines, since their adoption in 2011 and 2012.  It gathered a variety of evidence on the functioning of the HBERs, which included:…
Continue Reading The European Commission publishes the results of its evaluation of the horizontal block exemption regulations and guidelines

Next week will be a committee week in the European Parliament.  Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will gather virtually and in person in Brussels.  Several interesting votes and debates are scheduled to take place.

On Monday, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (“ENVI”) will vote to adopt proposed amendments to the draft opinion on critical raw materials (“CRM”).  The amendments can be found here.  The opinion is addressed to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (“ITRE”) and will contribute to a report on a European Strategy for Critical Raw Materials (see here).  The draft opinion, presented by Rapporteur MEP Sara Matthieu (Greens/ALE, BE), highlights the need for conditions regarding the extraction, processing, and use of CRM to be aligned closer with the EU’s sustainability targets.  The language of the proposed amendments aims to balance environmental concerns with industry’s ability to adjust to the new requirements.  It is widely expected to be adopted.  The European Commission brought the issue of CRMs to the forefront last year when it published its “Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials”.  The Action Plan intends to decrease the dependency of Europe’s industry on third-country suppliers, and, instead, develop the circular and sustainable use of resources and diversify mineral sourcing from third countries, thereby ultimately improving supply-chain resilience.  The Commission’s Action Plan can be found here.…
Continue Reading The Week Ahead in the European Parliament – Friday, June 25, 2021

Three summits last week—G-7, NATO, and U.S.-EU—launched a wide range of transatlantic initiatives to coordinate policy, particularly on trade, technology, and defense. These new formats and dialogues can ensure a much deeper level of regulatory cooperation between the United States and Europe by exchanging perspectives, briefing materials, and in some cases, staff. For companies on both sides of the Atlantic, these emerging policy trends also open up new opportunities to engage decision-makers both in Washington and European capitals.…
Continue Reading Transatlantic Summits: Main Takeaways for Tech and Defense

Introduction

The wide understanding of the notion of “undertaking” affords the European Commission (“Commission”) broad discretion when identifying the entities liable for competition law infringements, enabling it to attribute liability to all companies that constitute a single economic unit, such that a parent company can be liable for the wrongdoings of its subsidiary. The Commission also relies on the principle of economic continuity to establish liability when corporate groups are reconstructed.

With the increase of private competition law enforcement, the question arises whether individuals may rely on these concepts when establishing liability in private lawsuits. The recent Sumal and Skanska  cases confirm that EU Courts are in favour of extending the doctrine of “undertaking” to private damages claims. In his opinion of 15 April 2021 in Sumal, Advocate General (“AG”) Pitruzzella  proposes that a national court can order a subsidiary to pay compensation for the harm caused by anticompetitive conduct of its parent company. In March, the CJEU decided, in Skanska, that the principle of economic continuity applies in the context of follow-on damages claims.…
Continue Reading EU Courts extend the doctrine of “undertaking” to private claims for damages

The European Commission is currently discussing a draft of a proposal for a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (“CBAM”) Regulation that it is expected to present on July 14, 2021.  A CBAM was already announced in the European Commission’s Communication for a Green Deal  and is intended to protect the EU’s domestic industry that is at risk of carbon leakage—to create a level playing field—and to serve as a policy tool to encourage third countries to reduce their greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.

The CBAM draft proposal is subject to intense negotiations among the different Directorates-General of the European Commission, and it is likely that it will be amended several times before the Commission finally presents it on July 14.  Nevertheless, the draft already suggests that the CBAM proposal will require importers of covered goods into the EU to purchase and surrender a number of CBAM certificates that reflect the goods’ embedded emissions.  In line with the European Parliament’s resolution, the CBAM would be linked to the EU Emissions Trading System (“EU ETS”) as the price of the CBAM certificates would reflect the average price of the ETS allowances.…
Continue Reading Twelve Things to Know About the Upcoming EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

The Good Friday Agreement

The Troubles, which began in 1968 and lasted until the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in 1998, left more than 3,700 people dead. The GFA introduced a new power-sharing N Ireland Government structure; decommissioned paramilitary weapons; established a number of joint committees between the UK, N and S Ireland to oversee the implementation of the GFA and address any possible tensions between the N and S Ireland or between communities in the North; created the ‘all-Ireland economy’; and protected the Common Travel Area.  But perhaps the most totemic and visible sign of the GFA’s success was the removal of the physical border infrastructure between N and S Ireland.…
Continue Reading The UK, EU and the Northern Ireland Protocol

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