Competition Law
All commercial activity is regulated by competition law both on a national and international level. This is a complex area of law and competition authorities have far reaching powers to investigate activity which they suspect to be anti-competitive and ultimately impose sanctions if the activity is found to be anti-competitive.
In an increasingly competitive market, competition law can be, and is increasingly being, used as a means of creating a level playing field and private enforcement actions can be brought to ensure compliance by a competitor with competition law if their activity is anti-competitive.
Our Commercial Services Group can offer help by advising on risks associated with a particular activity and providing solutions to enable you to achieve your commercial goal within the regulatory framework. We can ensure that Agreements are drafted and negotiated in compliance with competition law and advise you on the effect of restrictions which others may seek to impose on you.
We advise on competition issues arising from mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial arrangements and activity, competition authority investigations and dawn raids. In addition we can assist you in implementing competition compliance procedures.
Mergers - When is Approval Required?
To help you understand when Regulatory Authorities need to become involved in a merger we have produced a helpful Merger Flowchart which you can view here.
