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The U.S. Supreme Court has denied appeals from both parties from the December 1, 2023, decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversing DOJ’s criminal conviction of a former executive of an aluminum products manufacturer for failure to state a per se antitrust offense under the Sherman Act. The Fourth Circuit held that the trial court erred in applying the per se rule without considering that the alleged scheme took place within the context of a “dual distribution” relationship among competing bidders, who also maintained a supplier relationship. The Fourth Circuit denied DOJ’s petition for an en banc rehearing.

On 1 November 2024, the Swedish Competition Authority has started applying its statement regarding free access to procurement documents. This means that contracting authorities are now, according to the Swedish Competition Authority, expected to make standard contracts such as AB04 and ABT06 available free of charge to tenderers in all public procurement processes.

Proposed changes to Australia’s merger control regime were introduced to Parliament last month following extensive public consultation.
As a key element of the reforms, the new legislation will enable the ACCC to request that the Treasurer designate certain sectors of the economy where all mergers, acquisitions or other transactions would require approval from the ACCC, regardless of transaction size.
Comments made by the ACCC and the Treasury over the course of the reform consultation process indicate that the ACCC will use its increased powers under the new regime to examine transactions in the pathology and oncology-radiology sectors.

On 10 October 2024, the Federal Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024 (“Bill”) to Parliament. The Bill will amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (“CCA”) to implement a mandatory and suspensory merger control regime in place of the former voluntary regime.
The Bill has been introduced following extensive public consultation, resulting in a number of important changes to the proposal set out in the earlier exposure draft.

Through Decree No. 780/2024, published in the Official Gazette on 2 September 2024 (“Decree”), Regulatory Decree No. 206/2017 and its subsequent modifications (“Regulatory Decree”) of Law on Access to Public Information No. 27275 (“Law”) have been amended. The Decree introduces the following amendments to the Regulatory Decree of the Law, among others:
‱ The Decree delimits the scope of the definitions of (i) public information, which does not include private data or data that is not of public interest; and (ii) document, which is limited to any record generated, controlled or held within the framework of the state activity and excludes preparatory deliberations and working papers.
‱ The Decree regulates the formal requirements for information requests.

The Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have voted unanimously to issue a final rule developed by both the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice and the FTC, updating the Premerger Notification Rules that implement the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act (“HSR Act”), including substantial changes to the HSR Form.

In keeping with tradition, we are pleased to invite you to our annual Global Year-End Review of Import/Export & Trade Compliance Developments Conference. The conference will provide valuable insights on the latest developments, challenges and opportunities in the ever-changing landscape of international trade.
We are holding this conference in a split-hybrid format, with an in-person event in Santa Clara, CA, on 12 November and virtual panels on 19-21 November.

The Brazilian Secretariat of International Trade initiated a new antidumping investigation against Brazilian imports of pre-painted steels from China and India on 19 September 2024. Pre-painted steels are used for civil construction, automotive industry, white goods, packaging and others.

The ACCC commenced Federal Court proceedings on 23 September against Coles and Woolworths alleging that the two major supermarkets have misled consumers by using their “Down Down” and “Prices Dropped” pricing claims in cases where the prices were actually higher than, or the same as, the previous regular price.

This week, the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) issued three price-fixing cartel cases against 21 of the major producers of table eggs, including board members of the Table Eggs Chamber, which is part of the General Union of Chicken Producers. In those cases, the Cartel Members agreed on the selling price of white and red table eggs, violating Article 6 of the Egyptian Competition Law No. 3 of 2005. The ECA initiated criminal proceedings before the public prosecution office for the Cartel Members and did not settle the case.