Author: kkslawoffices

Two notifications dated 18.11.2021, modifying the earlier notification of 2017 levying GST on supplying of transportation of passenger service, through an E-Commerce operator, provided by autos, has been challenged in Delhi HC. Notice issued.

Caught in a catch-22 situation where acknowledgement of BPAD was making a candidate ‘eligible’ for the post of judicial officer but, at the same time, making him ‘not suitable’ for carrying out the judicial work in the opinion of the recruiting authority, the selected BPAD candidate knocked the door of Hon’ble SC. Hon’ble SC upheld the appointment & decided in favour of the candidate who will join as a judge in the Delhi Judicial Service.

At a time when CCI is reviewing its prior approved 2019 deal of Amazon & Future on Future’s complaint against Amazon about concealment of facts, Amazon has told CCI that if the 2019 deal is revoked it will send a negative message to the foreign investors and, in-turn, will allow the local retail behemoth Reliance to “further restrict competition”.

CMA in its report has found that Google & Apple are able to leverage their market power to create largely self contained ecosystems. The preliminary report is among several, nonbinding research efforts by the UK and other antitrust regulators in Europe into competition in the tech industry. The report also mentions that the two hold a ‘vice-like’ grip over their customers on how they use their mobile phones.

Australia’s sole manufacturer of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine, agrees to buy Swiss drug maker ‘Vifor Pharma’ for an equity value of $11.7 Billion, so to increase company’s reach to treatment of kidney disease & iron deficiency. The deal, if completed, will push the value of global M&A in the health-care and pharma sectors past its all-time record.

Polish antimonopoly watchdog UOKiK, initiated probe against Apple’s App Tracking Transparency rules, which to a large extent have reduced the ability of third-party apps to get users data, used to serve targeted ads.

Dealing with a complaint from Council for Medical Schemes, SA Competition Commission agreed for reduction of test prices from 850 to 500 rand instead of fining the two major labs Ampath and Lancet, treating the PCR tests having become essential in the fight against covid-19.

Once one of the biggest ethanol producers in the EU, Abengoa, faces a fine of 20 million Euros with EC’s Executive VP stating “The Commission has zero tolerance for cartels and will enforce its antitrust rules strictly to ensure competition in all markets, including those relevant for the Green transition.”

Charged with a conspiracy with other aerospace companies in hiring practices, a former Connecticut executive with Pratt & Whitney faces upto 10 years in prison and a fine upto $1 million.

After its $26.2 billion LinkedIn acquisition in 2016, the latest & 2nd biggest $16 billion bid, for AI & Speech Technology Company, ‘Nuance Communication’ for boosting its presence in cloud services for healthcare is most likely to be cleared by the EU by Dec. 21, 2021, after having got regulatory approvals in USA & Australia. The regulatory approvals are also underway in CMA, UK.