On 6 October 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California enacted a series of laws that included an amendment to California’s antitrust statute, the Cartwright Act. He declared that the series of bipartisan legislation “further protects families by creating stronger consumer protections and increasing affordability.” Specifically, the antitrust amendment prohibits the use or distribution of “common pricing algorithms” that rely on competitor data or facilitate coordinated pricing. Two days later, Governor Newsom signed a second bill into law dramatically increasing penalties for Cartwright Act violations—raising corporate criminal fines, individual criminal fines, and giving courts discretion to apply civil penalties for misconduct.

The Ninth Circuit dismissed antitrust claims against Las Vegas hotels and software provider Cendyn, ruling that independent use of algorithmic pricing tools doesn’t constitute unlawful price-fixing under the Sherman Act. The court found no coordinated conduct or restraint of trade, diverging from the DOJ’s broader interpretation. While businesses may adopt pricing algorithms, they must avoid collusion. The decision sets key boundaries for antitrust liability in the context of AI-driven pricing strategies.

In February 2025, the European Commission presented its “Omnibus” package aiming to delay application as well as simplify certain obligations under the CSRD, CSDDD and the EU Taxonomy with the ultimate goal of reducing administrative burden and thus addressing concerns that the rules would hamper European competitiveness (see our summary of the Omnibus here). Following the approval of the “stop the clock” Directive, which delays application of the CSRD and CSDDD for certain companies, the EU institutions are now focusing efforts on the substantive proposal to simplify and streamline certain obligations under these rules. In parallel, the EU Commission is also working to publish updates to the EU Taxonomy.

The European Commission has issued its first fine in a no-poach case in the labor market, and its first sanction of the anti-competitive use of a minority share in a competing business. With the fine of EUR 329 million, the Commission joins the ranks of a number of high-profile antitrust enforcers worldwide that have targeted HR-related infringements. The Commission’s first intervention is also likely to encourage other EU regulators to follow suit and is an important reminder of the need to carefully manage antitrust risk (specifically information flows) where a company holds a minority shareholding in a competitor.

On 10 September 2018, the Philippine Competition Commission (“PCC”) issued its Guidelines on Notification of Joint Ventures (“JV Guidelines”) to aid parties in assessing whether a proposed M&A transaction would be considered a joint venture (“JV”) that is subject to mandatory notification under the Philippine Competition Act (“PCA”), and in…

The Government of New Zealand announced on December 8, 2015 that cartel conduct will not be criminalised under the proposed Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (known as the Cartels Bill).

On 15 October 2015, Mofcom and the European Commission entered into a best practices framework for cooperation in reviewing mergers. The framework marks growing cooperation between regulators handling multinational transactions. Find out what this means in practice.

Paul Melling and Anton Subbot from Baker & McKenzie analyze whether Russia needs legislative change.

The first Post Danmark case in 2012 brought about a modest antitrust revolution on Article 102 applicable to discrimination. Rarefied economic concepts were confirmed. Price discrimination as a standalone abuse was all but confined to a historical footnote in antitrust textbooks, to be replaced by a predation type test.

Due to the low number of cases in which the participants of a cartel attended to the Colombian Competition Authority to apply for benefits for reporting agreements restricting free competition, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism issued Decree 1523, which establishes new rules for the Leniency Program.