Client updates /  Antitrust

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.

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.

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.

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 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.