Tag: Competition law

A dominant company can be liable for its distributors’ conduct and Intel case-law applies to exclusive dealing, according to ECJ’s judgement in C-680/20 Unilever

Last month the European Court of Justice rendered its judgement in case C‑680/20 (Unilever) extending the scope of dominant companies’ liability for anti-competitive conduct of their distributors and providing useful insight as to the applicability of the Intel case to exclusive dealing. The Italian competition authority found that Unilever had abused its dominant position on the […]

Bulgarian competition authority’s prohibition of the sale of CEZ assets in Bulgaria annulled by the court

On 22 July 2020 the Sofia Region Administrative Court annulled the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition’s decision from 2019 prohibiting the acquisition of Czech utility CEZ’ assets in Bulgaria by the financial and insurance group Eurohold Bulgaria. The court found that the Commission had committed severe procedural violations depriving the parties from their right […]

The ECJ’s ruling in Case C-307/18 (Paroxetine) – important insights for the pharma sector and antitrust in general

On 30 January 2020 the ECJ issued its preliminary ruling in Case C-307/18 which is likely to have both general and sector-specific implications for antitrust practice. The case concerns certain pay-for-delay agreements between GSK as the manufacturer of an originator drug called paroxetine and its (potential) generic competitors on the UK market IVAX, GUK and […]

On the notion of restriction of competition under EU and Bulgarian law

Our associate Dragomir Stefanov has recently written an article analysing the evolution of the concept of “restriction of competition” under Article 101 TFEU and its Bulgarian equivalent – Articles 15-17 of the Competition Protection Act (“Понятието за ограничаване на конкуренцията по смисъла на чл. 101 от ДФЕС и чл. 15 от ЗЗК”). It was published […]

Hristov & Partners contributed to the ICLG’s Merger Control 2019 edition

We are pleased to announce that our team has contributed the Bulgaria chapter in The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Merger Control 2019. The guide gives an overview of the Bulgarian merger control regime and provides our practical advice and tips for businesses involved in transactions subject to merger filings and approval by the Bulgarian competition […]

Recent CPC’s decisions highlight the importance of internal competition compliance

The Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission has recently fined several companies on various unfair competition practices in what is a sound reminder of the importance of competition compliance reviews in daily business/marketing activities. Net Info  On 15 November 2018 the Commission fined Net Info AD with approx. BGN 267,000 for misleading and unlawful comparative advertising. In […]

The New Rules on Geo-Blocking within the EU

Following the GDPR hassle, next on the line for companies conducting business online within the EU comes the Regulation (EU) 2018/302 on addressing unjustified geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers’ nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market (the “Regulation”). The Regulation shall apply as from 3 December […]