The Covid-19 health crisis raises substantial challenges for businesses and consumers and has had a significant impact on competition law affecting the consumer sector.
While the particular implications will vary by jurisdiction, some common trends may be identified. One broader development is that competition authorities have recognised that certain forms of temporary cooperation between businesses, which could otherwise contravene competition law, may be necessary to secure the supply of essential products for consumers and have sought to allow specific cooperation through regulation, authority decisions or guidance. Another pattern that also emerges however is of competition authorities warning businesses against exploiting the crisis and adjusting their enforcement priorities to scrutinise practices related to essential consumer products, with a focus on excessive pricing in the food and healthcare sectors particularly common.
In this briefing we use our global competition law expertise to assess the pandemic’s impact in three parts of the world: the UK, Australia and Asia.
Read the full briefing here.
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