The Dutch financial conglomerate ING Group, under pressure from the European Commission, recently announced plans to accelerate the sale of its insurance operations and its internet banking business in the United States. It also agreed to stop making further acquisitions.
On 5 November, the European Commission (“Commission”) announced that a committee of representatives from the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers had reached agreement on the reform of the existing EU regulatory framework for electronic communications.
On 3 November 2009, the European Commission (“Commission”) invited comments on a draft guidance to participants in the SEPA Direct Debit (“SDD”) scheme for the assessment of MIFs under EC competition rules on anti-competitive agreements.
Scenario:A large company is defending itself in a breach of contract lawsuit. In order to prepare its defense, the company requests documents from the plaintiff that include electronically stored information (ESI). The company believes that plaintiff possesses certain emails and drafts of the contract that may refute plaintiff’s interpretation of the contract.
Mayer Brown LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that the firm is ranked by Benchmark Litigation 2010 in three national practice categories - Antitrust, Appellate, and General Commercial Litigation. In addition, eight attorneys are nationally ranked as “Stars” in their practice area.
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has announced two new conditional clearance decisions under the country's Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) merger control system, meaning five deals have now been subject to conditional approval or outright prohibition since the law commenced.
On October 1, 2009, the Senate Finance Committee announced that US senators may introduce individual tariff suspension bills to be included in the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB). MTBs offer importers an opportunity to save substantial amounts in customs duties for as long as three years.
Scenario: A large, publicly traded manufacturing company is sued by a class of shareholders claiming various securities law violations as well as a failure to disclose the declining sales of one of the company’s manufactured items. The plaintiff class issues a subpoena for documents to a key supplier of the manufactured item at issue.
Gregory So, Under Secretary for Hong Kong's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) today announced new details relating to the Hong Kong government's proposed cross sector Competition Bill, and re-affirmed the government's commitment to introduce a bill to the Legislative Council in the 2009/2010 legislative session.
On 22 September 2009, the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") issued a decision finding that 103 construction firms had infringed competition law by engaging in bid-rigging in England in the period from 2000 to 2006. Individual fines ranged from £713 to £17.9 million and totalled £129.5 million.
Scenario: A series of privileged communications between in-house counsel and the board of directors was unintentionally produced to the opposing side during the pre-deposition discovery period in a federal action. During the deposition of one of the board members, the opposing side submits the set of privileged documents as an exhibit. There is no agreement or court order on file in the case dealing with the inadvertent production of privileged documents.
The Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009 have been published in the official gazette. These regulations are the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) version of the successful leniency programs in the United States and Europe.
26 August 2009 – Leading international law firm Mayer Brown has announced the promotion of Gillian Sproul as the new head of competition and antitrust for the London office.
China’s National Development and Reform Council (NDRC) has released draft rules explaining how the various price-related 'conduct rules' in China's Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) will be applied in practice. The draft Rules on Anti-Price Monopoly ("Draft Price Rules") were published on 12 August 2009 for public comment, with a consultation phase in relation to the draft scheduled to end on 6 September 2009.
On August 6, 2009, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule intended to proscribe market manipulation in the petroleum industry. The Final Rule prohibits fraud or deceit in the wholesale petroleum markets and also includes a separate provision prohibiting omissions of material information that may distort the market.
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