Several European countries have introduced so-called new competition tools (NCTs) in recent years, empowering their competition authorities to intervene in markets without proving an infringement of antitrust rules.

NCTs primarily target structural, systemic competition issues or market failures that cannot be effectively tackled through traditional antitrust enforcement against anticompetitive agreements and abuses of dominance.

After identifying such competition problems through a market investigation or sector inquiry, the competition authority can impose remedies on, or accept binding commitments by, companies operating in the relevant market or sector.

So far, 7 of the 31 European countries researched by Cullen International have adopted NCTs, with several others expected to follow.

“Find out more” to request more in-depth information!
Clients of our Competition service can “Access the full content”.