On January 24, 2017, the European Commission announced that it had fined Qualcomm EUR 997,439,000. The Commission thinks that Qualcomm had abused its dominant position to become Apple’s sole supplier of long term evolution (“LTE“) baseband chipsets. The abuse was allegedly committed through exclusive deals, which lasted from 2011 to 2016. Baseband chipsets are key components in smartphones and tablets, which enable connection…

It’s 2018 and new years’ resolutions are upon us. While many of us seek to quit our vices of smoking or drinking, both the EU and the UK have announced plans to hasten the end another addiction of sorts – the use of plastics. Long identified as an issue, the call to action on plastic…

Need for a transitory mechanism In 2009, the EU acquired exclusive competence to regulate foreign direct investment (FDI) – which previously rested with its Member States – through the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Since then, the European Commission has been engaging in the negotiation of international investment agreements (IIAs) and investment chapters…

The European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Barnier recently stated that the ‘Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement’ (CETA) between the EU and Canada is the only feasible model left for Brexit. If this is so, it is bad news. Inevitably, a CETA-Brexit will be much closer to a hard Brexit than to the glorious bespoken deal…

In the “Trade for all” strategy issued in October 2015, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström explained how the Juncker Commission would translate the strong commitment to transparency into concrete actions in the EU’s trade policy. The actions identified by the Commission to increase transparency in trade defence as laid down in the Trade for…

Welcome to the newest Wolters Kluwer law blog, conceived to explore the inter-relationship among labor law, European law, and trade law in these turbulent times. As the editor for trade law I expect this blog to provide a forum to report on timely developments and to offer insight and analysis beyond the facts.  For me,…

On 18 July 2017, the German Federal Constitutional Court issued its second preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. This time, it doubts the legality of the ‘Quantitative Easing’ programme of the European Central Bank. The first reference, from 2014, also concerned central bank action. At the height of the debt…

On 17 November 2017 the ‘European Pillar of Social Rights’ was officially proclaimed by the EU leaders at the occasion of the Social Summit held in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was signed by Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission), Antonio Tajani (President of the European Parliament) and Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (on behalf of the Presidency…

On 3 October 2017 the Council and the European Parliament agreed on a compromise proposal which will shape the EU’s new approach in anti-dumping cases against China, and possibly other countries, in the years to come. The proposal for assessing and addressing ‘significant distortions’ in the context of EU anti-dumping investigations is presently expected to…

Keep pace with change. We are witnessing change at a very rapid pace. Brexit and “disTrumption,” among other developments, have changed the landscape for international business.  A new blog will synthesize and make sense of these developments. The blog, initiated by Wolters Kluwer, will be called “Regulating for Globalization” and is designed to address the significant changes taking place…