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Latest Updates / Antitrust and Competition

January 22, 2023

Israel: Foreign Company Fined for Failing to Comply with Competition Authority’s Request for Information

The Israeli Competition Authority believes its authority to issue information requests is not limited to Israeli companies, and that foreign companies with no affiliation to Israel are also subject to its authority and to fines for breach of the Competition Law.

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January 15, 2023

Is AI-Based Pricing a Detriment to Competitiveness?

The increasing commercial use of AI-based pricing engines will place new challenges before Israel’s competition authorities, both due to concerns about the creation of new means of price coordination between competitors, and, perhaps primarily, because such pricing engines intensify the competition failures that already exist, especially in low-competition markets. Gal Rozent and Ran Karmi elaborate on these challenges in an op-ed for Calcalist.

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December 20, 2022

Competition and Antitrust: Gal Rozent and Ran Karmi Article in Calcalist

Money laundering allegations against bid competitors convicted of coordinating a tender (coupled with charges of competition law offenses and fraud) may lead to aggravated penalties compares to those imposed on “regular” antitrust offenders. The Competition Authority’s decision to freeze and confiscate assets by virtue of Israel’s Anti-Money Laundering Law will exert heavy pressure, both financial and mental, on those under investigation and indictment. Read Gal Rozent and Ran Karmi’s article on the issue in Calcalist.

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December 4, 2022

Closing a Deal – Transaction Closing in the World of Malls and Chain Stores

Terry Almozlino-Arnon, Alon Wolner, and Irit Brodsky are participating in a panel on how to successfully complete mall real estate transactions and commercial tenders. The panel is being held as part of the Israel Mall Chain Store Conference held in Eilat.

September 12, 2022

Public Statements: Hagit Ross and Gal Rozent Participate in Webinar Hosted by Israeli Association of Public Companies

Hagit Ross, a partner in our Capital Markets Department, and Gal Rozent, a partner in our Competition Department, participated today in a forum hosted by the Israel Association of Public Companies. They gave a joint lecture entitled, "Public Statements by Officers in Public Companies – Do's and Don'ts."

August 25, 2022

Doing Business in Israel: Antitrust and Competition Aspects of M&A Transactions

Every foreign company considering a merger with an Israeli company (or with an international company connected to an Israeli company) must pay great attention to various elements characterizing Israeli merger control.

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August 7, 2022

Public Corporations and Public Announcements – between the Rock of Israeli Competition Law and the Hard Place of Securities Law

While the Israeli Securities Law obligates public companies to report their activities fully and transparently, the Israeli Competition Authority may prosecute them precisely for doing so.

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July 31, 2022

Israeli Supreme Court: Monopolies May Be Sued for Charging Unfair Excessive Prices

Israeli district courts have already recognized the possibility of suing a monopoly for charging an unfair excessive price, but the Israeli Supreme Court’s recognition of this cause of action ends defendants’ potential arguments for opposing this very possibility.

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May 16, 2022

Israeli Supreme Court Limits Possibility of Pleading Reliance on Assistance of Counsel as Defense against Indictment

The Supreme Court issued a ruling in principle that it sees no merit in the approach of releasing a person who breached the law from criminal liability based on the fact his or her lawyer failed to warn that the planned action was criminal.

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May 16, 2022

Israeli Draft Bill Obligates Monopolists to Publish Financial Statements

The striking innovation in this draft bill is that, upon its enactment, monopolists, even if not declared as such, must publish their financial statements, even if they are not reporting companies.

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April 4, 2022

Irit Brodsky Featured in Globes Article on Dramatic Changes to Merger Announcements

New Israel Competition Authority regulations impose a heavier reporting obligation on companies seeking to merge. These new regulations have many possible consequences, for better or worse. Firm partner Irit Brodsky discusses the changes in an in-depth article by Globes on the subject.

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March 28, 2022

Significant Change in Format to Report Mergers to Competition Authority

The new format heralds a reduction in the volume of transactions that require reporting. However, it imposes a far heavier burden on parties to transactions that do require reporting, even for mergers posing no competitive concerns.

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January 18, 2022

Israeli Competition Authority Taking Strict Position toward Vertical Price Maintenance Arrangements

A few days ago, the Israeli Competition Authority published for public comments draft public statement 1/22, presenting its position on vertical price maintenance arrangements. The final public statement 1/22 will replace the Competition Authority’s previous statement 2/17 published in 2018.

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January 10, 2022

Dramatic Ruling on Excessive Pricing: District Court Denies Two Motions to Certify Class Actions against Tnuva

In December 2021, the Jerusalem District Court dismissed two motions to certify a class action against the leading dairy manufacturer in Israel, Tnuva, for charging excessive prices. Both the motion and the dismissal are part of an intense dispute for years. The dispute revolves around whether the prohibition of a monopolist charging an “unfair” price applies to charging excessive fees. In 2014, the director-general of the Competition Authority published a public statement on the prohibition of excessive pricing by a monopoly.

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November 28, 2021

For the First Time, Israel Competition Authority Enforces Prohibition on Excessive Pricing

For the first time, the Israel Competition Authority has opened enforcement proceedings against a monopolist for abuse of its dominant position by charging an unfairly high price. Subject to a hearing, the authority intends to impose a pecuniary sanction of ILS 8 million on MBI Pharma Ltd. and personal sanctions on two officers of the company (of about ILS 600,000 each). The company faces accusations of charging an excessive price for Leadiant, a life-saving drug for CTX patients (an incurable genetic disease), which is marketed by MBI Pharma in Israel.

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August 8, 2021

Amendment to Israeli Competition Rules – RPM Arrangements

The block exemption for non-horizontal arrangements recently underwent a significant change. Beyond changing the name of the block exemption to “Rules of Economic Competition,” a significant amendment was introduced relating to the issue of price restraints in vertical arrangements.

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April 13, 2021

Barnea Represented Gnrgy in Sale to O.P.C. Energy

Firm partner Yuval Lazi and associate Mayer Winkler advised Gnrgy, a company operating in the field of electric vehicle charging, in its sale to public company O.P.C. Energy, part of the Idan Ofer Group. The transaction amount was NIS 67 million. Our legal services consisted of advising on all aspects of the transaction, including antitrust issues.

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February 3, 2021

Submission of Joint Offers in Tenders

When competing entities join forces to submit a tender offer, it reduces the overall number of entities competing for a tender. Reducing the number of competing entities may increase the market power of those participating entities against the tender holder and enable them to make less attractive offers.

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January 10, 2021

Israel Competition Authority Increases Enforcement against Exclusivity Arrangements

On December 30, 2020, the Israel Competition Authority (ICA) notified SOS, a company in the field of fueling services, it was imposing a financial sanction of NIS 6.3 million on the company. In addition, it imposed a financial sanction of NIS 350,000 on an executive officer in the company. Following a complaint an SOS competitor filed with the ICA, the ICA concluded SOS had entered into exclusivity agreements with its clients. The company also implemented a policy whereby it would not provide fueling services to a client if the client simultaneously engaged with a competing fuel service provider.

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August 8, 2019

Entities with Relatively Small Market Shares May Also Be Deemed Monopolies

Six months after the amendment to the Economic Competition Law took effect, the Competition Authority published its position regarding the circumstances in which even an entity with less than a 50% market share may be deemed a "monopoly holder."

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