On 10 August 2026, the European Commission (Commission) definitively imposed anti-dumping (AD) duties on imports from the Republic of Korea (Korea) and Mexico of terephthalic acid (TA), i.e., the essential feedstock for PET bottles, polyester fibres and food packaging. This Regulation is unusually rich in points that matter well beyond the TA world. It (i) signals that China is not the only target; explains how the Commission calculates (ii) dumping margin when its own sample partly do not dump and (iii) injury margin when it treats two different-behaving exporting countries as one.

On the last day of August, the European Commission designated ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Reddit and Roblox were designated as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) – notable, but business as usual for anyone tracking EU platform regulation. The designation worth pausing on is ChatGPT Search: The Commission classified it as a “Very Large Online Search Engine” (VLOSE) – the same regulatory category as Google Search. With that decision, the Commission has answered a lingering question: in its view, LLMs can qualify as search engines under the DSA framework. Indeed, this is the first time an AI chatbot has been formally treated as such. The signal to the industry is clear: if your LLM has a search function and enough users, the Commission’s view is that the DSA applies to you.

According to recent press reports (examples available here and here), the European Union may be quietly assembling an economic security bloc with the United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea to shield their automotive sectors from Chinese overcapacity. No official statement made yet, and the Commission declined to confirm. This note sets out, from an EU and WTO perspective, what an “alliance" could actually mean in law, which of its plausible building blocks are already in place, and where the difficulty lies.

Mit dem Inkrafttreten der reformierten EU-Screening-Verordnung Mitte Juli sind die neuen europarechtlichen Vorgaben für die Investitionskontrolle gesetzt (ABl.  2026/1386, 26.06.2026). Für Deutschland stellt sich nun die Frage, wie diese Vorgaben in nationales Recht umgesetzt werden. Die Bundesregierung plant, die bislang im AWG und in der AWV geregelte Investitionskontrolle in einem eigenständigen Investitionsprüfgesetz zu bündeln und dabei die Anforderungen der reformierten Verordnung zu berücksichtigen.

Das Briefing zeigt auf, welche Neuerungen die EU-Screening-Verordnung für das deutsche Investitionsprüfungsrecht mit sich bringt und an welchen Stellen gesetzlicher Anpassungsbedarf besteht.

The European Commission has launched an 8-week consultation on whether additional categories of steel products should be covered by the EU Steel Overcapacity Regulation that came into force on 1 July 2026. Stakeholders have until 30 September 2026 to submit comments. The European Commission will decide by 31 December 2026 whether to extend the scope to cast iron pipes and hollow profiles, non-alloy and other alloy wire, stainless steel wire, and forged bars. This is the first of many reviews planned under the Regulation. It is likely to attract attention from other industries facing similar challenges.

July has been a busy month for Google's legal team: the European Commission issued four decisions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) against the tech giant. On 16 July, two compliance decisions were adopted specifying how Google must adjust Google Search and Google Android to open its services to rivals. One week later, on 23 July, the Commission released two non-compliance decisions, fining Google a total of EUR 890 million for self-preferencing in Google Search and restricting app developers on Google Play. These decisions open significant opportunities for businesses that have suffered harm from Google's practices. German courts are an attractive forum to pursue such claims. Private enforcement can be a good alternative to Brussels (see also here).

Dem am 23. Juli 2026 veröffentlichten 21. Sanktionspaket der Europäischen Union gegen Russland und Belarus sind Medienberichten zufolge wochenlange, zähe Verhandlungen vorausgegangen. Dabei konnten mehrere Mitgliedstaaten Abschwächungen oder Zugeständnisse zugunsten heimischer Unternehmen durchsetzen. Dennoch beinhaltet das neueste Sanktionspaket die umfangreichsten Sanktionierungen von Personen, Unternehmen und anderen Einrichtungen seit vier Jahren sowie eine Reihe von Verschärfungen der sektoralen Sanktionen. Schwerpunkte bilden Maßnahmen gegen den russischen Finanzsektor, ein neues Instrument zum vollständigen Verbot von Kryptowerte-Dienstleistungen aus Drittländern sowie die Aussetzung der automatischen Anpassung der Ölpreisobergrenze bis zum 15. Juli 2027. Daneben versucht das Paket erneut, die Rechtsposition europäischer Unternehmen gegenüber missbräuchlicher russischer Gerichtsbarkeit zu stärken.

On 22 July 2026, a coalition of European companies and organizations published an open letter calling on the Commission to enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in full and without delay. The letter responds to hesitant enforcement posture, as the signatories see it: under pressure, particularly from the U.S., they accuse the Commission of holding back or delaying action under the DMA. As if reacting on the spot, the Commission announced two non-compliance decisions against Google under the DMA, just the following day imposing total fines of EUR 890 million. However, as sizeable as the fine may seem, it accounts for less than 1% of Alphabet's annual turnover and sits at the lower end of the DMA's sanctioning scale. Thus, instead of proving the signatories right by showing that public enforcement is ongoing, the decisions actually are best proof that political pressure from abroad continues to weigh on the Commission’s decision-making.

We take the opportunity to revisit the DMA's second pillar: private enforcement. Building on our March 2024 briefing, we summarize some rulings that German courts have handed down and shows how private action complements and, in some respects, outpaces the Commission's work in Brussels.

While digital ex ante regulation, such as the DMA, is all the rage lately, traditional cartel and abuse of dominance enforcement in the video games industry is more alive than ever with eye-watering fines for offenders, or remedies aiming to improve market conditions for studios and publishers. For developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, platform operators, and any other business active in the video games industry, cartel and abuse of dominance prohibitions are not abstract legal theory. They directly shape how games are developed, published, distributed and monetised across the EU. Getting it wrong can mean serious trouble with competition authorities. This briefing zooms in on antitrust basics and their significance for gaming companies active in Europe.

As in previous financing rounds, BLOMSTEIN advised Helsing on its Series E financing, which raised a total of USD 1.8 billion and values the company at USD 18 billion.