Dear Readers,
Before we dive into this week’s news, I’m delighted to share two important announcements about what’s new at Competition Today.
First, we have officially launched full-time court reporting from the London courts.
If you follow antitrust damages, certification battles, or the evolving CAT case law, this new coverage is now part of your subscription. You can find every dispatch — from CMC skirmishes to disclosure rulings — in our Litigation section and through the dedicated Court Reporting tab on our site.
Second, our brand-new Live Content page is now online in beta form — it pulls together all ongoing updates on merger-review rule changes globally in one continuously refreshed tracker. The page is still under construction, but the data is already live and ready to be used.
Please share any comments or suggestions with me by email at sylwester.frazzoni@competition.today
Have a great weekend,
Sylwester Frazzoni.
Managing Editor
Weekly Global Antitrust News Digest | 1–6 December 2025
This week was defined by fines, fresh investigations, and a tightening of compliance expectations, from digital markets to traditional sectors. Authorities were energetic across the board: launching new cartel probes, escalating digital scrutiny, and accelerating horizontal enforcement involving public tenders, utilities, and defence procurement.
Horizontal & Cartel Enforcement
Bid-rigging and coordination cases dominated headlines:
- Ukraine issued multiple decisions, sanctioning firms for collusion in military-cemetery and ICRC-financed tenders.
- South Korea imposed $24.1 million in fines on auto-parts suppliers for long-running bid-rigging.
- Austria closed a decade-long submetering cartel case with a €330,000 fine.
- South Africa referred eight global shipping companies for alleged coordinated rate increases.
- Philippines, Slovakia, and Japan all conducted raids or confirmed coordinated pricing infringements across sectors as diverse as bakery goods, flood control works, and petrol.
Dominance & Digital Markets
Digital enforcement continued to accelerate:
- The European Commission opened a new antitrust probe ihttps://competition.today/2025/12/04/eu-opens-antitrust-probe-into-meta-over-ai-providers-access-to-whatsapp/nto Meta over restrictions on AI providers’ WhatsApp access, covering all of the EU escept for Italy.
- A day before, Italy’s AGCM told Competition Today it had escalated its scrutiny of Meta, initiating interim-measures proceedings over WhatsApp’s new terms
- In Germany, the Bundeskartellamt launched a market test of Apple’s proposed changes to its App Tracking Transparency Framework.
- Poland’s UOKiK brought formal proceedings against Apple for allegedly leveraging privacy rules to limit mobile-advertising competition.
- Turkey escalated its probe into Dyson over suspected restrictions on parallel imports and resale conditions.
- India’s competition authority opened a formal investigation into the Basketball Federation for allegedly restricting independent leagues — another illustration of competition concerns in regulatory sports governance.
Policy & Strategy
Authorities rolled out a dense set of policy papers, consultations, and sector studies:
- Lithuania, Denmark, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Italy issued new policy guidance across sectors from food pricing and purchasing alliances to platform compliance gaps.
- Indonesia announced that its flagship JICF conference will push algorithmic-competition issues to the forefront.
- The OECD released important data showing a long-term decline in cartel and dominance enforcement despite soaring merger filings — a theme echoed by several agencies attending this week’s Global Forum.
- China continued its transparency push with draft rules targeting opaque pricing in the funeral sector.
Mergers
Merger activity remained intense:
- New Caledonia approved Siu’s acquisition of Mobil’s assets subject to behavioural commitments.
- Australia cleared a deal in recycling after a site carve-out; Greece signalled potential prohibition concerns over Allwyn’s deal for Novibet.
- New Zealand issued yet another Statement of Unresolved Issues in the Kegstar/Konvoy transaction.
- China’s SAMR published three full-review case studies to guide future notifications.
- In the US, the FTC required Boeing to divest major Spirit AeroSystems assets as a condition for approving its $8.3bn acquisition.
Litigation — Highlights From the Week
Our newly expanded court reporting team was active in London, alongside key developments from Luxembourg and national courts.
From the London Courts
- In Gormsen v Meta, the CAT continued its systematic clean-up of the sprawling disclosure process. Across multiple hearings (CMC4 Day 1 & Day 2), the Tribunal delivered rulings compelling Meta to provide disclosure from six external proceedings, scrutinised AI-driven document-review tools, and reinforced expectations of orderly, auditable disclosure management.
- At the UK Competition Litigation Conference, CAT Chair Ben Tidswell warned of a “cartel of misbehaviour”, signalling the Tribunal’s intent to enforce expert-evidence rules more robustly and clamp down on opportunistic litigation tactics.
CJEU Clarifies Dutch Jurisdiction Over Apple Damages Claims
The CJEU ruled that Dutch courts have jurisdiction over two representative antitrust actions against Apple’s App Store conduct aimed at the Netherlands market — a key win for claimants in cross-border digital damages litigation and an important confirmation of the Brussels Ia framework for platform-market cases.
Other Court Developments
- The Delhi High Court sought responses from the CCI over allegations of unlawful questioning during a search.
- The Netherlands Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal upheld the 2019 prohibition of the PostNL–Sandd merger.
(For full case-by-case reporting, see the Court Reporting section — now updated daily.)
View all of our 51 news stories published this week here.
