Antitrust law in times of the Corona crisis

14/04/2020

The Corona crisis does not stop at antitrust law. In a joint statement dated 23 March 2020, the European Competition Network (“ECN”), which encompasses the national competition authorities in the EU member states and the European Commission, has acknowledged “that this extraordinary situation may trigger the need for companies to cooperate in order to ensure the supply and fair distribution of scarce products to all consumers.” In some countries such as Norway, temporary exemptions from competition law rules have already been put in place for certain sectors while in most countries the existing rules still apply. In Austria, the Federal Act on Accompanying Measures for COVID-19 in the Judiciary (as part of the 2nd COVID-19 Act) that entered into force on 23 March 2020 will impact the deadlines in merger filing procedures (see below). In view of the Corona crisis, companies must ask themselves what freedoms the antitrust law gives them to improve their supply and reduce costs. In the following, we summarise the opportunities and risks under competition law arising from the crisis.