Competition Weekly e-news

The European Commission invites comments on commitments offered by Apple to address competition concerns over access restrictions to the technology used for contactless payments with mobile devices in stores (Near-Field Communication – ‘NFC').
The Commission invites all interested parties to submit their views on Apple's proposed commitments within one month from the publication of a summary of the proposed commitments in the EU's Official Journal. The full text of the commitments will be available on the Commission's competition website.

The European Commission has made commitments by Renfe legally binding under EU antitrust rules. The commitments address the Commission's preliminary competition concerns relating to Renfe's refusal to supply all its content and real-time data related to its passenger rail transport services to rival ticketing platforms.
See also DG Competition Director for Transport Henrik Morch telling you all about it.

Inside knowledge and assistance can be a powerful tool to help the European Commission uncover inter alia cartels and other anti-competitive practices more swiftly than might otherwise be possible. Since cartels often operate in secrecy, individuals or companies with inside or market knowledge can play a crucial role in bringing issues to our attention or gathering information that would allow us to start an investigation. They can also contribute to the success of our investigations in other areas of competition enforcement, i.e. antitrust, merger and state aid control.
This video encourages individuals and companies that suspect that their employers, suppliers, customers or competitors are engaged in a cartel to come forward and provide us voluntarily with any relevant information. We can assure them of full anonymity in this process.
Those who have suspicions of a cartel should step forward so that we can ensure a fair deal for businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, two Czech schemes with a total budget of around €1.46 billion (CZK 35 billion) to support farmers in preventing the spread of certain poultry and pig diseases. The measures will contribute to the achievement of the EU's strategic objectives relating to the Common Agricultural Policy.

The fifth Let’s Talk Competition conversation will take place on 30 January 2024 (CET) and will focus on how State aid is being impacted by the revival of industrial policy goals.
Participants will include Ben Smulders, DG COMP Deputy Directorate-General for State aid policy, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of the Competition policy report 2023, and Adina Claici, Managing Director at the Berkeley Research Group. The debate will be moderated by Nicholas Hirst, MLex chief correspondent for EU competition policy.
The show will be webcasted live from the Commission’s studios in Brussels on 30 January from 13:00 to 14:00 and will allow for interaction with the online audience. You can access the livestream via DG COMP website or DG COMP YouTube channel. You will be able to participate via Slido too!