Category: News

The 31st bpv Huegel-Breakfast Briefing dealt with current antitrust challenges for companies in the digital context.

Dr. Astrid Ablasser-Neuhuber and Gerhard Fussenegger, both partners of the Antitrust Practice Group at bpv Huegel in Vienna and Brussels, presented an overview of current issues of EU antitrust law in the light of digital progress to numerous company representatives. Against the background of these fast and ongoing changing processes, legislators are adopting and planning far-reaching reforms, especially in antitrust law, competition authorities are changing their focus and politicians are considering limiting the independence of decisions.

The two antitrust law experts referred to practical examples to describe the comprehensive new regulations in the area of e-commerce in more detail and explained which new regulations tech giants might be confronted with in the future. The presentation concluded with an outlook on what changes might be expected with regard to the EU’s Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (vBER) and its merger control regime.

Essentially, these changes result from the EU’s digital internal market strategy, which was launched in 2015 in order to open online markets. Under the heading of “New Rules for E-Commerce”, the European Commission hereby promoted numerous new initiatives and legislative projects, also in areas of law closely related to antitrust law, including the Geoblocking Regulation, which has been in force since December 2018, concerning free access to goods and services in other member states Further new rules include regulations on cross-border parcel services, VAT regulations, digital contracts or consumer protection provisions. Finally, the highly controversial draft regulation on platforms (platform-to-business) has drawn much attention since it is intended to regulate the relationship between platform operators, search engines and their commercial users in the B2B sector.

In the area of “core” antitrust law, the European Commission currently evaluates its vBER, which is the essential legislation for vertical distribution within the EU. The actual vBER expires in 2022. In the light of digital change, the evaluation hereby addresses questions with regard to, inter alia, as to whether the sale via brick and mortar shops can be strengthened compared to online sale, to what extent retailers can be protected against platforms such as Amazon and whether a new legal framework is necessary with regard to the franchise sector. Finally, concerning EU merger control, the European Commission’s considerations were discussed as to whether new thresholds, which are not exclusively based on the turnover of the undertakings concerned, but also on the value of the target company,should be introduced on EU level. Germany and Austria recently introduced such “value of transaction” thresholds in its respective national merger control regime.

In many areas of activity, in light of information technology and communications development, one of the benefits requested by the employees is the possibility to work in other spaces than the ones organized by the employers.

Law no. 81/2018 on telework, which entered into force one year ago, was expected with enthusiasm by both employees and employers, who regarded it as a valuable tool for making the working relationships more flexible. Apart from the undisputable benefits, the provisions thereof trigger certain confusions, being, in some cases, incompatible or in contradiction with dispositions included in other enactments.

One year after this law entered into force, we intend to analyze the challenges of the telework performed in this context and we invite you to discover our conclusions, as well as to discuss other aspects of the telework within the seminar which will be held by bpv Grigorescu Stefanica on April 17th at the headquarters of AHK.

• Anca Grigorescu, LL.M.Eur – Partner
• Cristina Randjak -Managing Associate
• Andrada Popescu -Associate

VENUE
April 17th, 9:30 – 12:00
AHK HQ, 35 Clucerului, 2nd floor

Registration is available through this link.

Molex Electronic Technologies, LLC, a leading global manufacturer of electronic solutions, acquired in a multi-jurisdictional transaction the Connected Vehicle Solutions (CVS) Division of Laird Limited, with offices in Bucharest.

bpv Grigorescu Stefanica acted as local counsel for Molex USA, one of the most successful global manufacturers of electronic components, in the acquisition of Laird Group’s Romanian subsidiary, active in the vehicle connectivity solutions field. The transaction was completed in December 2018.

Molex Electronic Technologies, LLC, with a presence in more than 40 countries, develops and manufactures electronic components such as connectors, cable assemblies, antennas, optical solutions. The company, founded in 1938, is headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, USA and has been often referred to as a “hidden champion” of the 21^st century. It is part of the Koch Industries group, the second largest private group in America.

The Bucharest research-and-development center of Laird CVS Division, inaugurated in 2018, is focused on automotive telematics, smartphone integration, and antenna systems.

The acquisition of Laird CVS Division was part of Molex’s strategic development, aiming to expand its automotive portfolio in order to deliver improved solutions to the automotive manufacturers developing intelligent vehicles.

bpv Grigorescu Stefanica team, consisting of Catalin Grigorescu, Managing Partner and Dan Curiciuc, Senior Associate, offered legal advice and assistance on the structuring of the buyout referring to the Romanian CVS Division, and implemented a robust procedure needed in order to meet the completion deadline. The London office of the US law firm Jones Day acted as lead counsel for Molex and coordinated the legal assistance provided in several jurisdictions.

bpv Grigorescu Stefanica advises some of the most prominent names in the technology sector such as Google, Atos, Amazon, Facebook, Hootsuite, Garmin, SAP, Zitec, FintechOS, Fullscreen Digital, Autodesk, Mapbox, Riverbed Technology, Siemens, Hitachi.