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Articles by Thomas Masterman
Paving the way for more UK merger control approvals? CMA proposes new approach to efficiencies
The draft revised guidance, and the notably more positive framing of efficiencies arguments, mean that merging parties could have more avenues to successfully argue that their deal generates benefits that offset any anticompetitive effects. This sounds promising in theory, but much will turn on how the CMA applies the guidance and, in particular, whether it is more willing to engage with efficiencies arguments using the evidence that businesses produce when assessing M&A opportunities.
Antitrust Authorities Target Both Exploitative And Exclusionary Abuses Of Dominance
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Law Department Performance, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Criminal Law topic(s) In Europe, abuse of dominance fine volumes stayed steady in 2025 as antitrust authorities imposed financial penalties and crafted tailored commitments to remedy concerns. Globally, there was continued scrutiny of Big Tech.
Beyond Fines, "Soft Enforcement" Rises
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Law Department Performance, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Criminal Law topic(s) In 2025, regulators across many jurisdictions showed an increased appetite to utilize so-called “soft enforcement” tools, often employing novel approaches to ensure their enforcement objectives were met.
Spotlight On Procedural Compliance
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Law Department Performance, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Criminal Law topic(s) Incomplete responses, inaccurate information, obstruction and other procedural missteps attracted significant regulatory attention and penalties in 2025. We saw regulators, including in the EU, China, and the U.S., step up their enforcement of procedural non-compliance. Information requests are a vital tool for authorities attempting to uncover antitrust infringements.
Global Antitrust Enforcement Report Published
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
Regional Snapshots For Antitrust Enforcement Fines In 2025
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
Fines For Vertical Conduct Violations Drop Despite Continued RPM Vigilance
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Law Department Performance, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Criminal Law topic(s) Overall, the level of fines imposed for vertical and other non-cartel conduct violations decreased six-fold in 2025, with the number of infringement decisions halved. This decline followed a standout year of elevated enforcement in 2024, with a small number of significant decisions skewing the totals.
Consumer And Policy Objectives Underpin Enforcement In Key Sectors
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Law Department Performance, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Criminal Law topic(s) A key theme of antitrust enforcement throughout 2025 has been a distinct focus on strategic sectors identified as critical for economic growth and supply chain resilience. As individuals and governments alike seek to reduce their expenditure, antitrust scrutiny has zeroed in on areas of importance to consumers and of significant public spending.
Private Damages Activity Continues To Escalate Across Key Jurisdictions
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Law Department Performance, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Criminal Law topic(s) Across key jurisdictions, the "gatekeeping" phase in collective redress—whether certification or collective authorization—continues to define who gets into court and on what terms, with materially different thresholds shaping claimant leverage.
Regional Snapshots For Antitrust Enforcement Fines In 2025
A visual breakdown of the geographical trends in antitrust enforcement fines around the world. This section presents a series of visual snapshots illustrating how antitrust enforcement fines were distributed across Europe, APAC, and the Americas in...
Global Antitrust Enforcement Report Published
Our latest Global antitrust enforcement report offers an insightful analysis of the current state and future trajectory of antitrust enforcement worldwide, based on analysis of enforcement data from over 30 jurisdictions.
Global antitrust enforcement report published
The report discusses the significant increase in fines, use and development of investigative tools, the impact of digital market scrutiny, and emerging trends in public and private enforcement practices. On investigative and enforcement tools: Of the 31 jurisdictions surveyed, 22 (71%) confirmed that the regulator had carried out dawn raids during 2025.
Politics Shapes Evolving Global Antitrust Enforcement Landscape
Global antitrust enforcement in 2025 was both tough and balanced. The headline figure tells one story: total fines in the jurisdictions surveyed in our report rose again to USD 7.7 billion, the highest since 2021. But the underlying picture was more...
Antitrust Authorities Target Both Exploitative And Exclusionary Abuses Of Dominance
In Europe, abuse of dominance fine volumes stayed steady in 2025 as antitrust authorities imposed financial penalties and crafted tailored commitments to remedy concerns. Globally, there was continued scrutiny of Big Tech.
Regional snapshots for antitrust enforcement fines in 2025
A visual breakdown of the geographical trends in antitrust enforcement fines around the world. This section presents a series of visual snapshots illustrating how antitrust enforcement fines were distributed across Europe, APAC, and the Americas in 2025. The analysis highlights notable regional differences in enforcement priorities and identifies the types of conduct most commonly penalised by competition authorities in each jurisdiction.
Private damages activity continues to escalate across key jurisdictions
Access to collective redress: divergent gatekeeping standards U.S. courts have reinforced that a lack of commonality and predominance of an issue between class members can be a major barrier to class certification. In both In re Keurig Green Mountain Single Serve Coffee Antitrust Litig. and Miami Products & Chemical Co. v.
Spotlight on procedural compliance
Scrutiny of responses to information requests intensifies across Europe Information requests are a vital tool for authorities attempting to uncover antitrust infringements. Failure to fully and accurately comply with these requests will compromise and potentially lengthen and increase the costs of investigations. Authorities are therefore likely to actively look out for and investigate potential misdemeanors and ensure sanctions have a deterrent effect.
Strengthening investigative powers signifies a continued appetite for enforcement
Of the 31 jurisdictions surveyed, 22 (71%) confirmed that the regulator had carried out dawn raids during 2025. Although this represents a slight dip compared to 2024, this by no means signifies that regulators are slowing the pace, with multiple raids carried out by the European Commission (EC) and regulators in Canada, Germany, Spain, and Japan. Dawn raids focused on suspected bid-rigging in several jurisdictions.
Consumer and policy objectives underpin enforcement in key sectors
A key theme of antitrust enforcement throughout 2025 has been a distinct focus on strategic sectors identified as critical for economic growth and supply chain resilience. As individuals and governments alike seek to reduce their expenditure, antitrust scrutiny has zeroed in on areas of importance to consumers and of significant public spending.
Antitrust authorities target both exploitative and exclusionary abuses of dominance
European Commission (EC): The EC recorded the highest volume of fines for abuse of dominance of any antitrust authority. However, this was driven by one decision: a USD3.3 billion fine on Google for alleged self-preferencing in the adtech market—further details are set out below. The EC also publicly consulted on draft guidelines on exclusionary abuses in 2024, which are set for adoption in Q1/Q2 2026. EU member states: EU member states were also active enforcers of abuse of dominance violations.
Fines for vertical conduct violations drop despite continued RPM vigilance
Key statistics European Commission (EC): The EC was the most active enforcer of vertical conduct violations in 2025, accounting for 59% of global fines. The EC has focused on the consumer and retail sector, an area we expect the authority to continue to have in its sights as cost-of-living pressures mount—see Consumer and policy objectives underpin enforcement in key sectors for more details .
Global cartel fines surge to highest level since 2021
Global cartel fines totaled USD3.3 billion in 2025. This was a significant increase on 2024 (USD602.5 million) and 2023 (USD1.9bn) and represented the highest annual total since 2021 (USD4.0bn). The 2025 total was largely driven by a few major decisions. Enforcement by the European Commission (EC) and across EU member states stood out—their combined fines amounted to USD2.6bn.
UK Antitrust Regime Set For Further Reform As Government Pushes Growth Agenda
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
UK antitrust regime set for further reform as government pushes growth agenda
The UK government is consulting on highly anticipated amendments to the antitrust legislative framework. Its proposals are aimed at delivering economic growth by supporting the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s 4Ps objectives: to improve pace, predictability, proportionality, and process of engagement. Described as “refinements”, they span across the merger control, markets, antitrust, and consumer protection regimes.
A More Flexible Approach? CMA Issues Revised Merger Remedies Guidance
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
Crackdown on online selling practices: CMA launches eight consumer enforcement cases
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s strengthened consumer protection powers took effect in April 2025. For the first time, the CMA gained direct powers to determine breaches of consumer law and impose potentially significant penalties. The CMA has made clear that it is intent on using its new powers to protect consumers.
A (Provisionally) More Flexible Approach? CMA Consults On Revised Merger Remedies Guidance
A&O Shearman are most popular: within Consumer Protection, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring and Insurance topic(s) On October 16, 2025, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a consultation on draft revised guidance on its approach to merger remedies (Draft Guidance). The upshot: a more flexible approach is on the cards, particularly in relation to behavioural remedies.
A more flexible approach? CMA issues revised merger remedies guidance
The CMA's merger remedies guidance plays a key role in determining whether transactions that raise antitrust concerns can be allowed to proceed on the basis of commitments entered into by the merging parties. As such, these latest revisions are an important step in wide-ranging ongoing reforms to the UK merger control process, to implement the CMA’s “4Ps” agenda. This seeks to encourage “pace, predictability, proportionality and process” across the CMA’s portfolio of work.
The UK Government publishes the fourth annual report on the investment screening regime and launches a consultation to refine and expand sensitive sectors under the National Security and Investment Act - Concurrences
The UK government has published its latest annual report on the functioning of the UK’s investment screening regime under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA) as well as announcing its intention to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden on businesses and a new consultation regarding the sensitive sector definitions for notifiable acquisitions. In this alert we provide a snapshot of what the data tells us about the current functioning of the regime as well as the government’s pro...
UK National Security And Investment Act: Reducing Red Tape?
The UK government has published its latest annual report on the functioning of the UK's investment screening regime under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA) as well as announcing its intention to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden on businesses and a new consultation regarding the sensitive sector definitions for notifiable acquisitions.
Anticipating A Shift In CMA Merger Control Enforcement
By Dominic Long, Thomas Masterman and Louise Tolley ( July 4, 2025, 1:08 PM BST) -- On May 15, the U.K. government issued the final version of its "strategic steer" to the Competition and Markets Authority, directing the authority to act in a way that prioritizes growth and encourages investment in the U.K.[1]... Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence.
UK Government Emphasises CMA's Independence While Steering It To Support UK Growth And Investment
The UK government has issued the final version of its "strategic steer" to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), directing the authority to act in a way that prioritises growth and encourages investment in the UK. The steer is the latest step in the government's aggressive growth agenda. The government says it aims to create a level playing field for businesses by reforming the regulatory landscape to drive growth. The final version of the steer is largely unchanged from February's draft.
The UK Government issues the final version of its 'Strategic Steer' to the Competition Authority directing it to prioritize growth and encourage investments - Concurrences
The UK government has issued the final version of its “strategic steer” to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), directing the authority to act in a way that prioritises growth and encourages investment in the UK. The steer is the latest step in the government’s aggressive growth agenda. The government says it aims to create a level playing field for businesses by reforming the regulatory landscape to drive growth. (Mostly) as we expected The final version of the steer is largely uncha...
Regional Snapshots For Antitrust Enforcement Fines In 2024
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
EU Penalizes RPM And Other Vertical Conduct Violations
The level of fines imposed for infringements relating to vertical and other non-cartel conduct increased ten-fold in 2024, reversing a trend of decline in recent years. This rise can be attributed in part to the overall number of decisions recorded in our dataset (101) being the highest in recent years.
Global Cartel Fines See Dramatic Drop
Overall, global fines for cartel activity in 2024 (USD602.5 million) were the lowest recorded for several years, and significantly lower than the 2023 total (USD1.9billion). Unlike in previous years, 2024 saw relatively few 'landmark' decisions, with no individual fines exceeding USD100m. However, the total number of cartel enforcement decisions remained broadly steady, with 170 decisions issued in 2024 compared with 163 decisions in 2023.
EU Antitrust Fines Soar Amid Uncertain Global Enforcement Outlook
2024 saw a significant increase in overall global fines for antitrust enforcement, with total penalties for the jurisdictions surveyed in our report at USD6.7 billion, over double that of 2023 (USD2.9bn) and substantially higher than 2022 (USD3.5bn). Notably, this increase was largely due to a marked uptick in abuse of dominance fines (USD4.3bn in total), with the bulk of these coming from European Commission (EC) decisions (USD3.4bn).
Global Labor Market Restrictions Prompt New Antitrust Challenges
Continuing the trend from 2023, 2024 saw an increase by regulators across the globe in activity in relation to labor markets, with new investigations being opened in all sectors of the economy, enforcement action, and updates to legislation and guidelines. In Europe, most enforcement of anticompetitive labor market agreements—primarily taking the form of wage fixing and no-poach provisions—is still currently taking place at EU member state level, as well as in Turkey.
Antitrust Authorities Intensify Digital Market Regulation And Enforcement
Digital regulation continues to be at the forefront of regulator concerns, as authorities focus on technology companies through traditional antitrust tools and new digital markets regimes. Further legislation and guidance is on the cards for 2025, including with respect to artificial intelligence. 2024 fired the starting gun on a new era of global digital markets enforcement, spearheaded by the European Commission (EC) and European authorities taking significant action against Big Tech.
EU Leads Global Charge As Abuse Of Dominance Cases Target Big Tech
2024 saw a significant increase in the total fines imposed in abuse of dominance cases compared to 2023, reversing a trend of decline in recent years. The rise in fine volumes was spread across all regions of the world, with the exception of APAC.
Global Immunity And Leniency Activity Sees Little Uptick In 2024
Overall, the number of immunity/leniency cases decided in 2024 (21) was broadly in line with 2023 (19) and 2022 (18).
Global Regulators Diverge On Antitrust Treatment Of Sustainability Initiatives
In 2024, regulators across the globe increasingly acknowledged the need for a nuanced enforcement approach to balancing support for sustainability initiatives against traditional antitrust enforcement and countering the risk of "greenwashing." There was significant progress on clarifying the antitrust assessment of sustainability agreements guidelines were published and stress tested.
UK CMA Mergers Charter And Behavioural Remedies-statement Of Intent For Merger Reviews
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
Raising educational outcomes for individuals with Down syndrome: Findings from a larger systematic review of targeted interventions for individuals with SEND
This is the first systematic review to examine which targeted interventions, using high-quality RCTs and QEDs research methodologies, successfully raise educational outcomes (i.e. reading, writing, mathematics, science and general attainment outcomes) for students with Down syndrome.
U.K. Merger Control Reforms
AO A&O Shearman More A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world.
Shifting Sands? U.K. CMA To Review Approach To Behavioral Merger Remedies
Chief executive of the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sarah Cardell, has announced that the authority will launch a review of its approach to merger remedies in early 2025. Most notably, this will include a review of when behavioral merger control remedies may be appropriate. It will also consider whether any distinction should be made between regulated and non-regulated sectors. This is big news.
U.K. finalizes new consumer, antitrust and digital markets regime
Find out more about Lexology or get in touch by visiting our About page. Register To view this article you need a PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader. If you can't read this PDF, you can view its text here. Go back to the PDF . aoshearman.com U.K. finalizes new consumer, antitrust and digital markets regime MAY 2024 The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has finally been enacted.
Antitrust in focus March 2024 | JD Supra
This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Thomas Masterman, partner based in London, is our editor this month. He has selected: Out now: our latest global antitrust enforcement report Antitrust authorities worldwide continued their enforcement against anti-competitive conduct in 2023. Our report explores the latest trends in the global enforcement landscape.
EU publishes summary of recent competition enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector and promises to continue policy of proactive enforcement | JD Supra
The European Commission (EC) has published its latest report on competition enforcement in medicines and medical products. Key takeaways are that: EU and Member State authorities imposed multiple material antitrust fines from 2018-2022, totalling approx. EUR780 million. The EC is more than three times as likely to take action against a pharmaceutical merger than it is on average across all sectors. European regulators will continue to treat enforcement in this industry as a high priority.
UK CMA issues 'prioritisation statement' to allay competition law fears that prevent combination therapies reaching NHS | JD Supra
The CMA worked closely with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to understand challenges faced by medicine suppliers who want to offer a combination therapy. Its statement confirms that: Competition law concerns currently prevent tens of thousands of NHS patients from receiving combination therapies.
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