The challenges

All companies, regardless of their type, size, business sector or geographical reach, are directly concerned by French and european competition law. In recent years, legislation in this area has become considerably more complex:

• Increase in national merger control legislation and reform of the control exercised by the European authorities
• Rise in legal proceedings launched against price fixing or abuse of a dominant position and a substantial increase in the amount of the fines imposed
• Emergence of new regulations and a wealth of case law on consumer law (sales promotion, distance selling, etc.).

Our practice areas

• A ssisting companies implicated in legal proceedings launched by national or European competition authorities (information requests, on-site investigations and searches, notification of complaints)
• Notifying national or European authorities regarding proposed mergers and acquisitions
• Advising on restrictive practices, particularly regarding industrial/ commercial relationships (supply agreements, commercial cooperation agreements, discriminatory practices)
• Consumer and distribution law: distribution systems and networks, consumer protection
• Lodging complaints against anti-competitive practices (price fixing and abuse of a dominant position)
• Monitoring our clients’ dealings with the European authorities (anti-trust, state subsidies)
• Anti-competitive practices by public entities (abuse of a dominant position, management of key resources or infrastructure)
• Public financing, public services’ compensation obligations.

Our approach

• An overall understanding of our clients’ interests in order to provide tailored and innovative solutions. We are more than just experts as we also deal with strategic issues after making an overall assessment of the client’s position and priorities.
• Ability to handle complex matters by multilingual lawyers with expertise not only in competition law but also in European or public law.
• Drawing together legal and tax expertise from other teams at CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre to provide a multidisciplinary approach.
• Methodological attention to detail: we focus on foreseeing problems before reaching the litigation stage and we provide support throughout all legal proceedings launched by or against our clients.

Our clients

International groups, SME s, professional organisations or associations, local authorities and state-owned entities have placed their trust in our firm in sectors as varied as capital and consumer goods, food industry and life sciences.