Antitrust / State Aid

Antitrust and competition law has rapidly gained in importance over the last few years at European and national level. Antitrust infringements are frequently prosecuted with exorbitant fines threatening companies' existence. Therefore, risks of antitrust and competition law have to be taken seriously and suitable compliance matters should be set into place in advance.

Besides merger control, abuse of dominance, State aid, and cartel investigations special issues such as technology transfer, research and development or specialisation are of importance nowadays. We advise and represent domestic and foreign companies on site, in particular before the authorities in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Italy and before the European Commission in Brussels.

In addition, we support our clients in Spain with offices in Bilbao, Denia, Madrid, Palma de Majorca and Valencia, during dawn raids competition authorities and the subsequent proceedings before the European Commission and the national competition authorities.

In 14 countries to date (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, FranceGermany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey) we accompany private clients as well as national and international companies. The alliance's locations are: Ankara, Bilbao, Bologna, Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Denia, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gliwice, Graz, Hanover, Istanbul, Linz, Madrid, Munich, Osnabruck, Palma de Majorca, Paris, Pilsen, Prague, Shanghai, Sofia, Taicang, Valencia, Vienna, Warsaw, Wels, Wroclaw.

The focus areas of our activity

  • Cartel investigations (e.g. dawn raids, requests for information) by the European Commission and national competition authorities
  • Compliance/Audits
  • Abuse of dominance
  • Merger control
  • State aid
  • Horizontal and vertical agreements, in particular horizontal cooperations between competitors
  • Distribution agreement (e.g. agency agreements, dealer and franchise agreements, selective distribution systems, vertical agreements, purchasing cooperations)
  • Licences and technology transfer agreements
  • Research & development
  • Prodution and specialisation agreements
  • Seminars and antitrust compliance trainings