Ryuu96 on 26 October 2023
A few days ago, Mlex published a report about how the EC was frustrated with how the whole situation has been resolved.
For starters, the EC doesn’t understand earlier criticism of the EU remedy by the CMA seeing the solution finally accepted with the Ubisoft agreement. They feel that it’s more a license agreement and not a divestment. Therefore, a behavioural remedy like the one approved by the EC.
At the same time, the EC believes that other authorities have been left in an awkward position because many don’t consider the new proposition a “new deal”. But it was reviewed like that by the CMA.
Therefore, many wonder if companies in the future may try to invoke the "new deal" exception to circumvent vetos. And this could open a can of worms as basic but complex as "What is a new deal?"
There is also a lot of talk about “hybrid deals” (the CMA accepting more flexible remedies at later stages) or if the Australian ACCC failing to rule is a sign of weakness.
As you can see, the consequences of this whole story are just starting to develop.
For starters, the EC doesn’t understand earlier criticism of the EU remedy by the CMA seeing the solution finally accepted with the Ubisoft agreement. They feel that it’s more a license agreement and not a divestment. Therefore, a behavioural remedy like the one approved by the EC.
At the same time, the EC believes that other authorities have been left in an awkward position because many don’t consider the new proposition a “new deal”. But it was reviewed like that by the CMA.
Therefore, many wonder if companies in the future may try to invoke the "new deal" exception to circumvent vetos. And this could open a can of worms as basic but complex as "What is a new deal?"
There is also a lot of talk about “hybrid deals” (the CMA accepting more flexible remedies at later stages) or if the Australian ACCC failing to rule is a sign of weakness.
As you can see, the consequences of this whole story are just starting to develop.
