Expertise

Competition Law

Asset value optimization, French, European and international partnerships, new cooperation agreements, connected commerce: these key components of your business strategy are governed by complex regulations and supervised by increasingly empowered competition authorities. Beyond the risk of inspections and penalties, what is at stake is the ethical approach of the economic players concerned.

A pioneer in inventive solutions such as our "Antitrust Alert by FIDAL®" smartphone application, our coordinated assistance during multi-site dawn raids, our antitrust audit methodology and comprehensive compliance approach, Fidal’s competition law team is widely recognized in France. The DNA of the team, which includes former members of various supervisory authorities, is to work in close proximity both to our clients throughout France and to the competition authorities in Paris, Brussels and Luxembourg, for optimal responsiveness.

Our lawyers’ hands-on experience enables them to craft the best strategies for our clients, whether in advisory or litigation matters. Active in the areas of anticompetitive practices, compliance, search and seizure, merger control, state aid and restrictive practices, our team helps our clients master the rules of competition and turn them into drivers for development.

Our services

Antitrust Compliance Audit

Economic players need to make sure that their practices are compliant with antitrust rules. Doing so, moreover, creates value through the ethical profile they thereby exhibit in the market.

Our service offering:

"à la carte" antitrust audit
"mock dawn raid" audit
"mock hearing" audit
reliable assessment
appropriate compliance measures
assistance with implementation.

Merger Control

Business combinations, mergers, acquisitions of controlling interests, and joint ventures can raise antitrust issues. Using a multidisciplinary approach, our team will advise and support you, whether on the buyer-side or the seller-side, in analyzing the feasibility of the transaction, assessing whether it is notifiable, preparing the file and completing the process of notifying the relevant national or European competition authority.

Anticompetitive Practices (cartel - abuse of dominant position)

Managing antitrust risk exposure involves ensuring the legality of the company’s relationships with its business partners (cartels, horizontal agreements, vertical agreements, abuse of dominant positions). Our experts can help you bring your practices into compliance and represent you in administrative and litigation proceedings before domestic and European competition authorities and courts, whether as claimant or defendant.

Restrictive Practices

The rules applicable to the negotiation, formalization and performance of supplier-distributor relations are constantly evolving. Disputes over the sudden termination or significant imbalance of commercial relations are increasingly widespread. Drawing on their hands-on experience in annual trade negotiations, our team of lawyers will support you from the design of your negotiating instruments to the formalization of your business relationships. They will then monitor your commercial relations and provide you with advice tailored to your sector (e.g. agrifood).

Searches and Seizures / Dawn Raids

An onsite inspection by a competition authority will create a major disruption within a company. In the face of a dawn raid, the targeted entities must, in a high-pressure and urgent situation, deal with the inspection in accordance with the legal procedures while protecting their rights and interests. Fidal's exceptional territorial coverage, throughout France and in Brussels, enables our team of lawyers, well-versed in inspections by the French competition authorities and the European Commission, to provide their clients with the level of onsite responsiveness required.

State Aid

State financial support to businesses (via subsidies, interest-rate subsidies, government guarantees, tax relief, etc.) is likely to harm competition and must be notified to and authorized by the European Commission. Whether you are a state aid recipient, a competitor of a state aid recipient, or a recipient required to notify a state aid, our multidisciplinary team of experts is here to help you. Our team can, for example, assist you in assessing whether the aid is lawful or notifiable, preparing the application, and carrying out the procedure to notify the European Commission.