Client updates / Antitrust and Competition

Following an extensive public consultation process, a final report on the use of AI in the financial sector was published last week. The report was prepared by a committee comprising representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Competition Authority, the Israel Securities Authority, the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority, and the Bank of Israel.

The trends recorded in 2025 show that regulatory authorities are tightening enforcement, not only in cases of coordination between competitors, but also in cases involving public statements that may spur such coordination, non-controlling minority shareholding in competitors, or any other conduct that may raise barriers to competition.

On October 19, 2025, the Competition Commissioner published her detailed position regarding the proposed anti-dumping levy on imports of aluminum profiles from China. This position expresses strong opposition to the recommendations of the Commissioner of Trade Levies to impose high anti-dumping levies on aluminum imports from China.

In early September 2025, the Israeli Supreme Court issued its ruling on Youngster v. State of Israel, also known as the “Poland trips cartel case.” In this landmark ruling, the Supreme Court called for the imposition of much harsher sentences for restrictive arrangements between competitors (cartels). It also set a minimum sentence of nine months of incarceration for such offenses.

The Israel Competition Authority (ICA) published a draft consent decree with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Neopharm, requiring payments of over ILS 44 million by the companies and ILS 200,000 by a Neopharm executive, following indications of monopolistic abuse.

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.