Client updates / Antitrust and Competition

On August 6, 2025, the interministerial team to increase competition in the retail banking sector (established by Israel’s Minister of Finance in collaboration with the Governor of the Bank of Israel) published its recommendations on the measures needed to increase competition in banking services.

In July 2025, the European Competition Commission imposed a EUR 489,000 fine on Alchem International Pvt. Ltd. and its Hong Kong subsidiary for their involvement in a pharmaceutical cartel involving the active ingredient used in the manufacture of an abdominal antispasmodic medicine.

The Israel Competition Authority (ICA) conducted a thorough investigation of the S. Schestowitz Group, an Israeli company in the food and consumer goods sector, due to suspicions the company operated a cartel in the food industry in violation of the Economic Competition Law and the Law for the Promotion of Competition in the Food and Pharmacy Industries.

The “What’s Good for Europe Is Good for Israel” reform came into effect at 2025, with considerable resonance. This reform allows importers to import diverse products to Israel in a new standardization track, based on compliance with the requirements of strict European regulations and standards.

Bank Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank will each pay the State Treasury ILS 40 million within the framework of an administrative settlement, in respect of their acquisitions of minority stakes in a competitor.

The US government has recorded another big win in the battle that US law enforcement agencies have been waging for years against Google.

The Israel Competition Authority (ICA) announced that as of March 31, 2025, it will begin publishing on its website a list of pending merger transactions and exemption applications for restrictive trade arrangements that are under its review.

The Israeli Competition Authority has filed a precedent-setting indictment against supermarket chains, including Victory and Yochananof, and against officers of the chains, for attempting to coordinate prices through statements in the media and for violations of the Food Law.

The Director-General of the Israel Competition Authority has announced her intention to impose a significant fine on the Ofer Avnir Group. This is the first time that the Israel Competition Authority is enforcing the new provisions added to the Competition Law in 2023, which prohibit harm to parallel imports to Israel.

The Director-General of the Israel Competition Authority recently imposed a pecuniary sanction of an unprecedented amount, approximately ILS 111 million, on Strauss and Wyler Farm. This was due to what the Director-General deemed a “de facto merger” carried out before receiving the required approval, in violation of the Economic Competition Law. Strauss was subject to […]

The Israeli court’s precedent-setting ruling in Aviad Concrete Industries v. Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises found that Nesher violated provisions of the Economic Competition Law when it gave its major customers significantly higher rebates than those it gave to its small customers, thereby harming competition.

The Israel Competition Authority published a consent decree for public comment and ruled that Mizra and Zilber violated the Competition Law by exchanging sensitive business information during their transaction negotiations. Jointly, the companies must now pay a fine of ILS 1.5 million to the State treasury.

The high fine spares Meta an official determination by the Israel Competition Authority that it violated competition law by failing to report mergers, and serves as a “warning sign” to other international corporations that may not be sufficiently familiar with the obligation pursuant to Israeli law to report a merger if the company fulfills the monopoly criterion.

In light of the security situation in Israel, the Director General of the Israel Competition Authority issued several special guidelines last week to facilitate business activities during the state of emergency.

Commercial information or intentions disclosed in public companies’ public statements might expose them to investigations or sanctions by the Israel Competition Authority. The tension between the reporting obligation and the desire to maintain a competitive market will be resolved only through clear guidelines issued by the regulatory authorities.

According to the Competition Authority’s Director General, the negative covenants included in the merger agreement between Strauss Group and Wyler Farm raise concerns of harm to competition, and the parties began implementing the merger before receiving approval.

The amendment is part of the government’s efforts to bring down the cost of living by increasing competition in the import sector. However, the amendment also imposes considerable restrictions on direct importers.

As part of a series of measures to combat the cost of living, the Israel Competition Authority’s Director General is taking broad law enforcement measures for the first time against major food suppliers for violations of the Food Law. Inter alia, the Food Law prohibits food suppliers and retailers from engaging in various commercial arrangements that could prevent small suppliers or retailers from competing. 

This is not the first time the Israel Competition Authority has imposed sanctions on companies that fail to respond adequately to its demands for data. However, this is the highest sum ever imposed for such a violation and approaches the maximum the ICA’s Director General may impose in this regard.

The regulations grant several new rights to the relevant data subjects, when the database contains information transferred from the European Economic Area (EEA) to Israel, including the data subject’s right to delete information and a broader right of review.