In our series of briefings, we recap the key milestones of the DMA implementation, deep dive into the various obligations that gatekeepers are facing, lay out the DMA’s implications for stakeholders who are not (currently) within the direct scope of the leg-islation and update you on the current status of affairs in the DMA’s implementation.

This time we focus on: Private enforcement of the DMA.

March 7th, 2024 has been a big date looming above the skies of Europe. Why? By tomorrow, March 7th, all core platform services, that the European Commission has designated as gatekeepers under the DMA so far, must comply with the DMA’s obligation and submit comprehensive compliance reports. In these reports, they must show in a detailed and transparent manner all relevant information needed by the Commission to assess the gatekeeper’s effective compliance with the DMA.

Am 12. Dezember 2023 wurde im Europäische Parlament eine Einigung über einen Entwurf des EU Critical Raw Materials Acts (CRMA) erzielt, die den Weg für eine zeitnahe Verabschiedung eröffnet. Damit drohen weitere regulatorische Pflichten für Unternehmen, die mit kritischen Rohstoffen produzieren.

With the recent spate of inquiries into generative AI investments, there is no doubt that the spotlight of EU competition authorities is on one topic: generative AI. The authorities' determination for greater oversight of AI is backed by the EU's ambitious AI Act and the establishment of the EU Artificial Intelligence Office. But that's not all: with the current Call for Contribution 'Competition in Virtual Worlds and Generative AI', open until 11 March 2024, the European Commission is calling on regulatory experts to gather views on AI from a competition perspective. In other words, the EU Commission is gearing up for competition regulation of AI at EU level.

This briefing provides an overview of current antitrust topics from EU competition authorities' lens. Together with recent EU regulatory developments, these should be anticipated by generative AI model providers and their investors or partners alike.

This briefing is the first in a series of AI briefings, spotlighting current AI-related hot topics in competition law, public procurement law, trade/foreign direct investments (FDI), and ESG.

Am 9. August 2023 unterzeichnete der Präsident der USA, Joe Biden, eine Executive Order on Addressing United States Investments In Certain National Security Technologies And Products In Countries Of Concern. Die Executive Order ist der erste Schritt zu einer so genannten Outbound-Investitionskontrolle, die die Ausfuhrkontrolle und die Inbound-Investitionskontrolle der USA ergänzen soll. Kann die Outbound-Investitionskontrolle der USA als Vorbild für die EU dienen?

BLOMSTEIN hat Helsing, wie schon bei der vorherigen Series-A-Finanzierung 2021 (EUR 102,5 Mio.), zusammen mit dem Team von YPOG bei der kürzlichen erfolgten Series-B-Finanzierungsrunde mit einem Gesamtvolumen von EUR 209 Mio unterstützt. BLOMSTEIN hat Helsing zu den Fragen der Investitionskontrolle beraten. Ein großer Dank geht an Helsing sowie an das gesamte YPOG-Team für das in uns gesetzte Vertrauen!

On 17 May 2023, the European Commission has published proposals of significant reforms of the EU Customs Union, describing them as ‘the most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union’ since its inception 1968. The reforms will create a data-driven vision for EU customs and simplify and enhance the customs procedures. According to the Commission’s press release, the reforms respond to the current pressures under which EU customs operates, including a huge increase in trade volumes especially in e-commerce, a fast-growing number of EU standards, unnecessarily complex customs procedures and shifting geopolitical realities and crises. The reforms are promised to make the customs framework fit for a greener, more digital era and contribute to a safer and more competitive Single Market and to reduce costs significantly. The Union Customs Code will be repealed and a new UCC introduced with a complete rearrangement of articles. The reform is awaited, as especially the national customs administrations wish for cost savings and streamlined and simple processes through digitalization.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing so quickly that experts around the world are warning against the risks of unregulated deployment. Meanwhile, the European Commission (Commission) is trying to catch up by accelerating its plans to regulate AI. After publishing its first draft of an AI Act Proposal in April 2021, the Council adopted its common position (General Approach) on 6 December 2022. Since then, the Proposal has made great strides: the committee work in the European Parliament was completed on 11 May 2023, and the Proposal was adopted already a month later with a clear majority: 499 votes in favor, 28 against and 93 abstentions. Next up will be trialogue negotiations between the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council. If this pace is maintained, the AI Act could be passed before the end of the year, which would make it the world’s first comprehensive AI law.

BLOMSTEIN unterstützt Goodwin bei der Beratung von Summit Partners hinsichtlich des Verkaufs der Anteile an der ELATEC-Gruppe in Bezug auf die investitionskontrollrechtlichen Aspekte in Deutschland. Die Transaktion mit einem Wert von rund EUR 400 Mio. soll noch in diesem Jahr vollzogen werden und unterliegt den üblichen regulatorischen Genehmigungsvorbehalten. Die Anteile werden von SGT German Private Equity erworben, einer Tochtergesellschaft der Private-Equity-Gesellschaft SGT Capital.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can be prompted to create wholly novel content, is a hot topic all around, from news and social media to policymakers and businesses. Image-generating AI models that create (digital) paintings inspired by van Gogh or other famous artists in seconds, or text-generating AI models like ChatGPT that pass university exams with ease are fascinating the internet community. Fact is that many generative AI-based applications have been made available to the public in the last months, from machine translations to image recognition and music generation. Yet, this is just the beginning of a ground-breaking technology, which will sooner than later be deployed in a wide spectrum of activities and become a critical infrastructure for many businesses.