- within Government and Public Sector topic(s)
1. A fine line for green collaboration
As ESG goals and 'pro-growth' initiatives remain high on governments' agendas, it is no surprise that competition law is having to examine its interaction with the green transition.
In the EU, and building on the European Green Deal, the 2024 Draghi report on competitiveness draws a clear link between clean energy and increased competitiveness. The structure of the new European Commission is indicative of the Commission's support for that message, with Teresa Ribera's position combining responsibilities for competition and the EU's Green Deal (as Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition and the Commissioner responsible for Competition).
In the UK, the green transition is equally a key element of the Government's "pro-growth" agenda, as it recently published the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and re-launched the Net Zero Council.
It is clear that, for change to occur on a global scale, private sector cooperation on the transition to net zero is required – and this is where competition law comes in. Due to the significant investments involved in climate-related projects (in terms of costs, technology and expertise) and "first mover disadvantages", single firms may be unable or unwilling to achieve meaningful change working alone. The challenges lie in navigating what types of collaborations will be permitted, especially when having to navigate antitrust rules in multiple jurisdictions.
Read our longer article A Fine Line for Green Collaboration for more from our Competition Team on the balancing of sustainability goals with antitrust compliance.
2. National Security and Investment Act: trends continue according to the 4th Annual Report (2024/2025)
The latest NSI Act annual report is the first to cover almost a year of the Labour Government. Our briefing covers the key findings, including:
- Notification numbers are on an upwards trajectory. Whilst
"call-ins" are also up, they still amount to less than 5%
of deals (i.e. a 95% clearance rate without further
investigation).
- Defence still tops the list for numbers of notifications (56%)
and call-ins (36%). Military/Dual-Use and Advanced Materials also
feature heavily in call-in numbers.
- There's a significant up-tick in final orders – 17
cases, up from five last year. Only one case, in the semiconductor
space, required divestment but five deals were abandoned after
call-in.
- The largest number of final orders involved UK-based investors,
followed by China and the USA. However, of those UK investors, a
relatively large number involved corporate links associated with
other countries.
- Whilst time taken from call-in to final order is up, caution should be used in drawing any trends given the relatively small number of final orders last year.
So, largely a continuation of existing trends – but watch this space for more changes afoot in the NSI Act space, intended by Government to make the regime more targeted whilst also supporting its "pro-growth" agenda.
There is also a consultation underway on changes to the NSI Act sector definitions, designed both to:
- narrow its scope – e.g. by updating the AI sector to
remove cases where "off the shelf" AI is being used as a
tool within internal processes; and
- widen its scope – e.g. by proposing to add a new sector related to Water, and to add third-party operated data centres (including data processing and data storage) to the scope of Data Infrastructure.
There are also plans to exempt from mandatory notification certain internal reorgs, and liquidator appointments. Details are expected shortly.
National Security & Investment Act - 4th Annual Report (2024/25) | Travers Smith
3. Antitrust on the menu: No-poach deals and minority stakes stir up the food delivery sector
Competition law enforcement in labour markets is a trend garnering attention amongst antitrust authorities across the globe - and heightened competition enforcement in this area looks set to stay. In a landmark decision for the European Commission, Delivery Hero and Glovo were found to have breached competition law by agreeing not to poach each other's employees, together with exchanging commercially sensitive information and allocating geographic markets between them.
Not only is this the first investigation initiated by the Commission in the labour markets space, but it is also the first time that the Commission has sanctioned the anti-competitive use of a minority shareholding in a competing business. Our Competition Team discusses the key take-aways from the Commission's decision here Antitrust on the Menu: No-Poach Deals and Minority Stakes stir up the food delivery sector | Travers Smith.
Businesses should be aware that:
- No-poach (and wage-fixing) arrangements are squarely within
global antitrust focus.
- Minority, non-controlling shareholdings do not immunise conduct from antitrust scrutiny – even if there may be a plan to build up the businesses' shareholding in its rival to a full control scenario in future. Where a minority stake falls short of control, the underlying businesses will be treated as independent competitors and, hence, subject to competition laws.
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