EU Competition Law

“The most knowledgeable and discreet EU competition law representation you can find."

The Legal 500 EMEA 2022

In today’s world where over 90 antitrust authorities around the globe enforce antitrust laws, many companies have realized the benefits of a robust antitrust compliance program. These programs reduce the risk of costly antitrust investigations; the risk of liability for fines and for damages claims by customers or suppliers; the risk of reputational damage and the risk of being excluded from public tenders. Moreover, in some jurisdictions, having a compliance program in place can constitute a mitigating factor when setting fines.

EU Competition Law

However, designing and implementing a credible and cost effective antitrust compliance program that meets international standards is a complex and challenging task. There are many issues that a company must consider:

• Global antitrust laws and enforcement priorities are constantly in flux
• Antitrust compliance must be aligned with compliance efforts in other areas such as anticorruption (notably compliance with the U.S. FCPA or the UK Bribery Act) and trade sanctions
• The compliance program must be tailored to the specific business in order to avoid over-compliance and overly-restrictive measures that hamper legitimate business practices
• Employees must be trained
• Management must create a culture of compliance and proper incentives to ensure effective implementation of the program

Our multilingual and multijurisdictional team draws on decades of experience assisting our clients in identifying antitrust risks and developing and implementing tailor-made antitrust compliance programs, including experience advising in an in-house capacity. Our lawyers have real-world experience that gives them first-hand knowledge of the challenges globally operating companies face in implementing cost effective compliance programs and how to overcome those challenges.