Competition Outlook 2025

Our Antitrust & Competition practice group has once again put together the main trends in antitrust and competition law in our Competition Outlook for 2025. While taking a look at both past and future developments, the Competition Outlook 2025 provides an easy-to-digest summary of the key topics.

Our Antitrust & Competition practice group has once again put together the main trends in antitrust and competition law in our Competition Outlook for 2025. While taking a look at both past and future developments, the Competition Outlook 2025 provides an easy-to-digest summary of the key topics.

In 2024, the enforcement of antitrust law on digital markets once again dominated the agenda both in Germany and at the EU level. While the European Commission and the General Court of the European Union issued their first decisions under the new Digital Markets Act, the topics of data and artificial intelligence are increasingly drawing the attention of the competition authorities and the legislature.

A report published by Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank, was among the factors making the EU’s global competitiveness one of the key issues in 2024. The “Draghi Report” directly touches upon antitrust and competition law issues. It recommends that more consideration should be given to the strategic interests of the EU in relation to innovation, security and resilience in the field of European merger control. According to the report, European State aid law and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) should be strategically deployed in order to support the future of European competitiveness. When it comes to reviewing notification requirements for M&A transactions under the FSR, companies are now able to use the FSR Checker, a legal tech tool provided by Noerr.

All these tasks will especially be placed on the shoulders of the newly constituted European Commission in 2025. The Commission will also be overseeing the further legislative process for reforming the EU Screening Regulation in order to harmonise and tighten investment control by EU Member States.

Our Competition Outlook 2025 provides an overview of these and many other topics, including the latest developments in the world of distribution-related antitrust law, antitrust proceedings and antitrust damages.