The European Commission has published today a Call for Input seeking feedback from market participants on how European companies procure and recycle certain critical raw materials and the interplay with EU competition rules. This fact-finding exercise was announced in the Clean Industrial Deal Communication and aims to assess the need for greater industry cooperation in that field.

In this call for input, market participants are invited to indicate specific areas of their business activities as regards the procurement, recycling and re-use of raw materials for which guidance from the European Commission would help their assessment under the EU competition rules of specific instances of cooperation with competitors, with a view to enabling such cooperation.
Depending on the input received, DG COMP may engage with stakeholders in a targeted manner with questionnaires and may also organise a workshop to refine the insights collected on specific raw materials and industries.
See also the European Commission's press release.

DG COMP has launched a call for tender for an economic study on the dynamic effects of mergers, such as its impact on incentives to innovate and invest. The study aims to provide analytical foundations to assess whether a merger has a positive or negative impact on these dynamic factors, and how they trade off against static factors – such as changes in prices or output.
See also DG COMP's press release.

The European Commission has launched today a consultation inviting all interested stakeholders to comment on its draft State aid Framework accompanying the Clean Industrial Deal (‘CISAF').
Interested parties can respond to the consultation until 25 April 2025. The proposal and details about the consultation are available here. 

The Commission announced in the Clean Industrial Deal Communication its intention to simplify State aid rules by adopting a new Clean Industrial Deal State aid Framework to accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy, deploy industrial decarbonisation and ensure sufficient capacity of clean tech manufacturing in Europe. With this consultation, the Commission seeks the views of relevant stakeholders on a draft for this framework to be adopted by June 2025.
Interested parties can respond to the consultation until 25 April 2025.
See also the Commission's press release.

The European Commission is seeking feedback on the main objectives, scope and context of the upcoming Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (‘FSR'). These Guidelines, to be published by 13 January 2026, are meant to provide certainty for companies and transparency of the Commission’s implementation of the 2022 rules on foreign subsidies.
All parties, who have an interest in the matter, can submit their views until 2 April 2025.

This initiative aims to evaluate the Regulation ahead of its expiry on 31 May 2028, looking at the following aspects in particular:

• the functioning of the Regulation since its recent extension, and
• the amendments to the guidance provided in the corresponding Commission Notice (Supplementary Guidelines) in 2023.

The Commission seeks the views of stakeholders on the draft amendments to the State aid Implementing Regulation (EC) No 794/2004 and the State aid Best Practices Code (BPC). These amendments set out a new mechanism which allows members of the public to request a Commission review of certain State aid decisions to establish whether they contravene EU environmental law. In the amended BPC, the Commission sets out the arrangements for the internal review procedure, such as who can request the review, which decisions can be subject to the review, and the applicable deadlines. Annex III to the draft Regulation amending the State aid Implementing Regulation contains a form for the submission of an internal review request.
See also the Commission's press release.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence and a public consultation to seek feedback on possible revisions of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (‘TTBER') and the accompanying Guidelines.
This initiative forms part of the impact assessment phase, which follows the evaluation concluded in November 2024. The aim of the evaluation was to gather evidence on the functioning of the TTBER and the Guidelines, for the Commission to determine whether it should let the rules expire, prolong their duration or revise them in view of their expiry on 30 April 2026.
All interested parties can submit their views in any official EU language on the Commission's Have your Say Portal until 25 April 2025.

The EU Commission is seeking feedback on the measures Apple should take to ensure interoperability under the Digital Markets Act, in the context of the two specification proceedings indicating the proposed measures for Apple’s interoperability. The two public consultations are the following:

1. On the measures relevant for connected devices seeking interoperability with iOS;
2. On Apple’s interoperability request process for third parties

The European Commission has launched today a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on a proposed targeted revision of the 2014 Guidelines on State aid to airports and airlines (the ‘Aviation Guidelines'). Interested parties can respond to the consultation until 5 March 2025.

This initiative aims to revise the guidelines on state aid in the aviation sector and align them with the objectives of the Green Deal, while preserving connectivity and supporting competition in the aviation sector.
This public consultation is open. Your input will be taken into account as we further develop and fine-tune this initiative. We will summarise the input we receive in a synopsis report, explaining how we have taken it into account. Feedback received will be published on this site and therefore must adhere to the feedback rules.
See also the Commission's press release.

The European Commission invites comments on commitments offered by Corning to address competition concerns over its alleged exclusive dealing in relation to the supply of Alkali-aluminosilicate glass (‘Alkali-AS Glass'), a special type of glass mainly used as cover glass in handheld electronic devices.

The subject of this call for tenders is expert consultancy services and reports in the context of the State aid framework applicable to financial institutions.
The call for tenders is divided into three lots. Lot 1 will be used for the determination of whether a measure is in line with the Impaired Assets Communication, incorporating detailed asset valuations. Lot 2 will be used to obtain external support for determining whether a valuation that is conducted by another party is based on appropriate and consistent methodologies. Lot 3 will be used when expert support is needed for market conformity assessments in non-impaired asset measures, such as public guarantee measures, equity injections, or funding support. The Commission anticipates to utilize the expert support services on multiple occasions over the next few years.

This initiative aims to revise the guidelines on state aid in the aviation sector and align them with the objectives of the Green Deal, while preserving connectivity and supporting competition in the aviation sector.
This call for evidence is open for feedback. Your input will be taken into account as we further develop and fine-tune this initiative. Feedback received will be published on this site and therefore must adhere to the feedback rules.

The European Commission has launched today a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses of dominance.
Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU') prohibits dominant companies from engaging in abusive behaviour, including behaviour that excludes competitors from the market. Examples of such exclusionary abuses of dominance include predatory pricing, margin squeeze, exclusive dealing and refusal to supply.

Against the background of market developments and the evolution of the EU Court’s case law, on 27 March 2023 the Commission launched the process leading to the adoption of guidelines on exclusionary abuses with a Call for Evidence. The replies to the Call for Evidence have been taken into account in the preparation of the draft Guidelines.
The draft Guidelines aim at reflecting the EU courts' case law on exclusionary abuses in light of the extensive experience gained by the Commission in the enforcement of Article 102 TFEU. This will help increasing legal certainty to the benefit of consumers, businesses and the national competition authorities and national courts.
See also the EC press release.

The European Commission launched a targeted consultation to seek feedback from the business community and public authorities on a proposed new procedure aimed at enabling public access to justice for specific Commission decisions on State aid measures, for challenges based on grounds related to alleged breaches of EU environmental law.

The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation to seek feedback from the business community and public authorities on a proposed new procedure aimed to give public access to judicial procedures to challenge specific decisions on State aid measures that allegedly contravene EU environmental law. 
The Commission is seeking feedback on the impact of the proposed procedure on EU policies, as well as on investment decisions and projects implementation by the business community. The targeted consultation will also gather information on the cost implications and administrative burden of the new procedure for businesses and Member States.

From EVP Vestager's speech at DG COMP's conference "Protecting competition in a changing world",
Brussels, 27 June 2024.
[...] "We are inviting all students in the EU to take part in a student challenge. Here's what you have to do: listen to the panels of today's conference. Next, we ask you to choose one panel, pick one theme, and imagine what your contribution to this discussion would be. Ask yourself, “if I were up on that stage, what would I be saying right now?” Consider: What are the implications of the report's findings for antitrust and merger control? Are these different for State aid policy? How do changes in the state of competition impact the EU's competitiveness?
We invite students to contribute with no more than 300 words, and submit it to us before the deadline, which is September 20.
The best entries will be invited to return in October to accept the winning prize, where I will have the pleasure of meeting them and discuss their views in more detail. So, in fact, this is really a prize for me, because I get to hear from brilliant student voices, who will bring a fresh perspective to the table."