News & Media Archives - The Competition Law Hub

The Legality of Dawn Raids

ComplawAdmin — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 06:37:46 +0000

On 15 October 2025, the General Court handed down its judgment in Red Bull v Commission, deciding on whether to uphold the Commission’s 2023 decision to carry out an on-site inspection at the energy drink producer. Commenting on the case for Courthouse News, Vicky Robertson highlighted that there have been an increasing number of challenges to Commission decisions initiating dawn raids in recent times, perhaps due to a successful appeal in 2023. In this case, however, the General Court fully upheld the Commission decision, finding that the competition authority had relied on sufficient evidence to warrant an inspection. The Court also emphasised that the surprise element was an important aspect of dawn raids, which could be jeopardised if the authority were to make requests for information or conduct interviews before carrying out a dawn raid. You can access the case reporting here and the General Court’s judgment here.

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ICN NGA for DG COMP in 2025/26

ComplawAdmin — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 06:36:21 +0000

For the second year running, Vicky Robertson was selected as a Non-Governmental Advisor (NGA) to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) in the International Competition Network (ICN) for the ICN year 2025/26. She will support DG COMP’s work in this international forum by contributing her expertise in digital markets, merger control and antitrust market ... Read more

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Big Tech, Democracy & the Economy

ComplawAdmin — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 06:47:48 +0000

A recent episode of Ö1 Journal-Panorama, a news show on Austrian national radio, took a deep dive into how Big Tech influences the economy and democracy. The episode was created by journalist Robert Uitz-Dallinger, with contributions by Vicky Robertson and Martin Andree. It is available as a podcast here.

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Big Tech in Europe

ComplawAdmin — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 06:54:04 +0000

In an interview with Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten, Vicky Robertson discussed the market power of Big Tech companies in Europe, and what competition law enforcement may look like under the current US administration. You can access the interview here.

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Research Sabbatical

ComplawAdmin — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 09:07:44 +0000

From March 2025 to February 2026, Vicky Robertson will be on research leave as a guest researcher at the Law Faculty of the Université de Montréal, the Centre pour l’étude de la Citoyenneté démocratique (CÉCD) and the Centre de recherche sur la régulation et le droit de la gouvernance (CrRDG) of the Université de Sherbrooke. This research sabbatical was made possible through a grant by WU Vienna and the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF).

During her sabbatical, Vicky will engage in research on the intersection of competition law, digital markets and democracy. Stay tuned!

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Fine for Gun-Jumping

ComplawAdmin — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:07:14 +0000

Following the Austrian Supreme Court’s ruling to impose a fine of € 70 million on supermarket chain Rewe for gun-jumping, Vicky Robertson discussed the significance of this ruling with Austrian newspapers Der Standard and Salzburger Nachrichten, arguing that this ruling will have repercussions also for antitrust fines in anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance cases.

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Highest Ever Antitrust Fine in Austria

ComplawAdmin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 07:48:00 +0000

The Austrian Supreme Court recently imposed the highest ever antitrust fine in Austrian proceedings: supermarket giant Rewe was fined € 70 million for gun-jumping. In an interview with the Austrian national morning news Ö1, Vicky Robertson discussed the significance of this ruling – and why merger notifications are important to protect competition in already concentrated ... Read more

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Antitrust Writing Awards 2025

ComplawAdmin — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:12:09 +0000

The nominations are out – and Fabian Ziermann’s article on ‘Dark patterns: Can criminal law remedy the shortcomings of antitrust law?’ was nominated for an Antitrust Writing Award by Concurrences, in the category Academic Articles! The article was recently published in the New Journal of European Criminal Law (see our earlier post here). Fabian examines how Austrian criminal law can address dark patterns in Big Tech and video games that mislead users to make purchases. He argues that antitrust law may not be sufficient to curb these practices, and tests whether dark patterns constitute fraud under Austrian criminal law. To access and vote for Fabian’s article, go here.

In the category Soft Laws & Studies, the Belgian Competition Authority’s brochure ‘The Digital Markets Act – A Short Guide for Tech Challengers’ was nominated, a project to which Vicky Robertson contributed (see our earlier post here). To access and vote for the brochure, go here.

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Discussing European Champions in El País

ComplawAdmin — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 08:19:47 +0000

The recent Draghi Report makes many recommendations to boost European competitiveness. One of them: a revived call for “European champions”. Vicky Robertson was interviewed by Manuel V. Gómez from El País about the usefulness and implications of reopening this new debate. Her take: be careful what you wish for – with market power comes the ability to abuse that market power, and competition authorities need to be equipped to safeguard competition vis-à-vis powerful companies, no matter where they are domiciled. Read the article here.

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ICN NGA for DG COMP

ComplawAdmin — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 10:05:26 +0000

Vicky Robertson was selected as a Non-Governmental Advisor (NGA) to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) at the International Competition Network (ICN) for the ICN year 2024/25. She will support DG COMP’s work in this international forum by contributing her expertise in digital markets, merger control and antitrust market definition.

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