On 21 April 2010, Carmen Verdonck was appopinted as lecturer ("Maître de conférences") by the Executive Committee of the Governing Board of the University of Liège. Carmen Verdonck, who is head of ALTIUS' Competition Law practice, will lecture on Belgian Competition Law in the Master programme (LL.M.) in European Competition and IP law.
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On September 22 2009 the Competition Authority carried out dawn raids on the head offices of Electrabel and SPE, which together account for around 80% of the electricity produced in Belgium. Both are vertically integrated organizations. Later that day Vincent Van Quickenborne, the federal minister for the economy, announced that the dawn raids were only the start of a thorough investigation of the Belgian wholesale electricity market.
> Read moreOn 22 June 2009, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled that it was competent to review a decision by an arbitration panel, if it threatened public order and therefore could decide whether or not the arbitration panel’s decision was contrary to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. However, the Court held that it could not annul or review a decision by an arbitration panel that was only concerned with an award of damages between parties to an agreement nullified because it infringed EU competition law.
> Read moreOn May 25 2009 the Competition Council fined Proximus €66.3 million for abuse of a dominant position. The decision followed an investigation started in 2005 and a dawn raid of the Proximus headquarters in 2006.
> Read moreThe Belgian Competition Act was the subject-matter of a thorough reform in 2006. The Multi-Purpose Act of May 6, 2009 only contains 15 amendments to the Belgian Competition Act.
> Read moreIn recent years parallel trade in the pharmaceutical sector has been a hot topic. On September 16 2008 the European Court of Justice published its eagerly anticipated judgment on the refusal to supply by dominant pharmaceutical companies in the Syfait II Case. Recently, the Belgian competition authorities have also addressed this subject when dismissing an appeal by Bofar, an exporter of pharmaceutical products.
> Read moreIn two recently published decisions the College of Prosecutors ruled on requests from two companies, Belgian Posters and Clear Channel, for interim measures to prevent the Brussels region from granting a public tender contract to a third company, JC Decaux.
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