Vilnius, October 8, 2025 – The Lithuanian Competition Council has urged businesses operating in digital markets to stay alert to competition risks arising from online coordination, data sharing, and no-poach agreements.
Speaking at a business breakfast hosted by law firm Sorainen, Deputy Chair Irma Urmonaitė outlined the authority’s latest work to help companies comply with competition law in the fast-evolving digital economy.
E-Commerce Guidelines and Digital Compliance
Urmonaitė highlighted the Council’s recently issued E-commerce Guidelines, which provide practical advice to businesses trading online. The guidance clarifies what constitutes anticompetitive information exchange or coordination, including the use of algorithms or pricing platforms that may indirectly align market behaviour.
The document also offers sector-specific recommendations for online retailers, covering issues such as resale pricing, data transparency, and cooperation with competitors in digital environments.
The Council noted that companies must avoid sharing commercially sensitive information or coordinating strategies through digital tools.
Urmonaitė stressed that the authority is investing in artificial intelligence tools to analyse large datasets collected in digital market investigations and is participating in the EU-backed project “Competition in the Digital Sector” alongside the Polish and Latvian authorities and the OECD.
Focus on No-Poach and Non-Compete Practices
The Lithuanian authority also reiterated its growing focus on labour market competition, warning that no-poach or non-solicitation agreements between companies can infringe competition law if they restrict worker mobility.
Urmonaitė reminded that employers from different sectors can still be considered competitors when vying for the same skilled employees. She advised businesses to ensure that non-compete and non-solicitation clauses are narrowly tailored, time-limited, and necessary for legitimate business purposes, such as protecting training investments or trade secrets.
Improper restrictions, she cautioned, could attract investigation — though agreements strictly required for contractual performance and limited in scope would typically not trigger enforcement.
