Explainer: New competition tools (NCTs)

Several European countries have introduced so-called new competition tools (NCTs) in recent years, empowering their competition authorities to address certain competition problems in a market or sector by imposing remedies on companies without establishing an infringement of antitrust rules. This explainer looks at the NCTs that have been introduced at the national level as well as the proposal for an NCT at the EU level.

Microsoft/OpenAI partnership 2025

Update: The UK Competition and Markets Authority decided that Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI does not qualify for investigation under UK merger control rules. Although Microsoft has material influence over OpenAI’s commercial policy, the level of this influence has not substantively increased in recent years.

Google Android Auto refusal to supply 2021

Update: The Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court, confirmed that the strict EU case-law conditions for establishing a refusal to supply antitrust infringement do not apply when the digital platform for which interoperability is requested was not developed solely for the dominant company’s own business. The court’s preliminary ruling was requested by the Italian Supreme Administrative Court in a case concerning Google’s refusal to make its Android Auto platform interoperable with Enel’s electric vehicle charging app.

Applying the Foreign Subsidies Regulation: European Commission seeks input on future guidelines

In preparation for the upcoming guidelines on the application of the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), the European Commission launched a call for evidence until 2 April 2025. The FSR, which entered into force in 2023, enables the Commission to address distortions in the EU internal market caused by foreign subsidies, i.e. subsidies granted by non-EU countries.

Deployment of 1 Gbps broadband networks in Portugal 2023

Update: The European Commission approved under EU state aid rules a one-year extension until end-2025 of a €172m Portuguese scheme to support the deployment of high-performing broadband networks that offer down-/upload speeds of at least 1 Gbps/150 Mbps in underserved areas of the country.

Connectivity vouchers for rural areas in France 2024

Twelve broadband internet access providers are participating in a €20m French connectivity voucher scheme to support the take-up of 30 Mbps (download) fixed broadband access services. The European Commission approved the scheme under EU state aid rules in December 2024.