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Latest Updates / Antitrust and Competition

January 25, 2024

Monopoly: Meta to Pay ILS 25 Million for Failing to Report Mergers

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.

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December 5, 2023

Gal Rozent Ranked as Leading Competition Lawyer

Who’s Who Legal has ranked Gal Rozent in its exclusive list of leading lawyers in Israel in the Competition Antitrust field for the year 2024.

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October 16, 2023

Competition Law in Times of War: Globes Interview with Irit Brodsky

Michal Cohen, the Director General of the Israel Competition Authority, issued a special statement, emphasizing the prohibition on companies exploiting their monopolistic position to cause consumers harm during the Israel-Hamas war. As an expert in the competition and antitrust field, Irit Brodsky was interviewed by Globes on the issue. Irit noted, “In addition to the various reliefs, during this difficult period, businesses must take care not to harm consumers as part of their survival efforts, and certainly not to exploit the situation. The Director General intends to be vigilant, especially regarding practices that exploit a company’s monopolistic position and harm consumers, and will use the enforcement measures in her power against such entities.”

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October 15, 2023

Israel Competition Authority Director General Publishes Guidelines for Business Activities during State of Emergency

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.

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October 3, 2023

Public Companies, Financial Statements and Competition

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.

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August 2, 2023

Merging without Approval: Strauss Group Might Pay ILS 111 million

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.

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July 3, 2023

Doing Business in Israel: Aspects of Antitrust and Competition Laws during Mergers and Acquisitions

The Director General’s position is that the Economic Competition Law also applies to a merger between an Israeli entity and a foreign entity that has not been registered as such in Israel if: (a) the foreign entity holds more than 25% of an Israeli company, or (b) more than 25% of the foreign entity’s shares are held by an Israeli company, or (c) the foreign entity has a “place of business” in Israel.

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June 25, 2023

Competition Law: Massive Fines for Harming Parallel Imports

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.

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June 19, 2023

Barnea: Hosting Conference on Tenders in Collaboration with ACC Israel

We hosted a conference on tenders at our office together with the ACC Israel. Ronit Niederman, a partner in the Tenders and Projects Department, discussed tender negotiation strategies. Gal Rozent, head of the Competition and Antitrust Department, spoke about the role of competition in tenders. Among the guest speakers at the conference was Joy Sturm, a partner from international firm Hogan Lovells, who participated in a panel with Shai Avnieli. They discussed how to submit tenders in the US. Another keynote speaker was Gal Somech, legal advisor to the Haifa Port, who addressed the port’s privatization process.

June 18, 2023

ICA Takes Broad Enforcement Measures against Food Suppliers

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.

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June 13, 2023

Unprecedented Sanction for Failing to Provide a Full Response to the Israel Competition Authority’s Demand for Data

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.

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June 5, 2023

Algorithm-Based Pricing – the Next Challenge in Competition Law?

The uptrend in the use of algorithm-based pricing tools is increasing competition concerns, especially wherever market concentration is high. Are competition laws equipped to deal with this situation?

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May 14, 2023

Israel: Suing Monopolies for Setting Unfairly High Prices

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.

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May 9, 2023

Gal Rozent Lectures at Annual Competition Law Conference

Gal Rozent, the head of our firm’s Competition and Antitrust Department, was invited to lecture at Haifa University’s annual competition law conference. Senior officials from the competition field and attorneys from Israel’s leading law firms attended.

May 3, 2023

Ministry of Economy and Industry v. Coca-Cola: Gal Rozent Interview

Last March, Coca-Cola alerted retailers of a 7% price increase for its sugary drink products. Yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry informed Coca-Cola of its intention to examine the need for supervision of the company's products in Israel. The ministry suspects Coca-Cola’s significant product price increase may affect the beverage sector in Israel as a whole. As an expert in the competition field, Gal Rozent was interviewed by TheMarker on the subject.

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February 28, 2023

Stricter Review and Enforcement of Vertical Resale Price Maintenance Arrangements

The Israel Competition Authority is imposing a stricter policy against resale price maintenance arrangements, and increases enforcement in this area, to make the market more competitive.

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February 22, 2023

New Israeli Restrictions on Direct Importers

The Israeli government is continuing to amend the Competition Law with the intention of curbing the cost of living. In the crosshairs are direct importers, who will be subject to strict scrutiny once the amendments are enacted.

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February 6, 2023

Drastic Measures to Reduce Concentration and Increase Competition in the Israeli Food and Toiletries Market

The Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Competition Authority are pushing to introduce a plan in the annual Economic Arrangements Law that would impose significant restrictions on importers and suppliers of major brands, with the aim of reducing concentration and increasing competition in the food and toiletries market in Israel.

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January 25, 2023

Barnea: Hosting Conference on Labor Law and Competition Law

Firm partners Gal Rozent and Neta Bromberg lectured at a conference we hosted for the CEOs of Israel’s leading cleaning companies, part of Israel’s cleaners’ union.

January 22, 2023

Israel: Monopoly Fined for Unfair Excessive Price

The Israeli Competition Director General fined MBI and company officers after they spiked the price of a life-saving drug called Leadiant by hundreds of percentage points.

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