The European Commission has fined Alkaloids of Australia, Alkaloids Corporation, Boehringer, Linnea and Transo-Pharm a total of €13,4 million for participating in a cartel concerning an important pharmaceutical ingredient. C2 PHARMA was not fined as it revealed the cartel to the Commission under the leniency programme. All six companies admitted their involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case. The product concerned by the cartel is N-Butylbromide Scopolamine/ Hyoscine (‘SNBB’). SNBB is an important input material to produce the abdominal antispasmodic drug Buscopan and its generic versions. The Commission’s investigation revealed that the six companies coordinated and agreed to fix the minimum sales price of SNBB to customers (i.e., distributors and generic drug manufacturers) and to allocate quotas. In addition, the companies exchanged commercially sensitive information.
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A new study from the Open Finance technology and advisory services provider Konsentus has found that there are now more than 65 national open banking programs globally. Konsentus has updated its Global Open Banking and Open Finance Map to include richer data on the evolution of open banking across the world. It reveals that open banking, the new wave of financial data access, has reached a significant milestone, with 68 countries (representing 35% of the world) either live or in development. The Konsentus study showed there is a clear regulatory push towards open banking, with 64% of open banking initiatives being mandatory via legislation. Continue reading…

The EU and Japan have concluded, on the margins of the G7 Trade Ministerial in Osaka, a landmark deal to make doing business in the online world easier, less costly and more efficient. The agreement was concluded at the EU-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED), co-chaired by European Commission Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Nishimura Yasutoshi, and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yōko Kamikawa. The EU and Japan are both among the world’s largest digital economies. This deal is a milestone in our joint efforts to advance the digitalisation of our societies and economies. Cross-border data flows are a crucial enabler to this development. Once ratified, the agreed provisions will be included in the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). They lay the foundation for a common approach on digital trade, sending a strong message against digital protectionism and arbitrary restrictions. They are also consistent with the EU digital agenda and EU privacy rules, and deliver on the digital trade agenda of the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. Similar negotiations with Korea and Singapore are due to follow. Continue reading…

by Christine Lagarde

I would like to thank the Bank of Greece for hosting our dinner tonight (October 25th). And thank you for the tremendous effort you have put into organising this external Governing Council meeting at your impressive headquarters here in Athens. Standing in this hall, I am struck by the overwhelming sense of continuity with the past. So much of what we consider to be European civilisation has emerged from these surroundings. This is the home of Pericles and the cradle of democracy. It gave us Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the foundations of our philosophy. The ancient Greeks taught us mathematics via Euclid, science via Archimedes and poetry through Homer. And this is not to mention the timeless contributions to theatre, art and architecture that Greek civilisation has bequeathed to us. Continue reading…

TUI, leading group in the touristic market, and The Fun Lab, consultancy and engineering firm specialising in water parks and leisure pools, have signed an agreement in which the tour-operator entrusts the firm with managing the safety of their water parks and leisure pools at both owned and tour-operated hotels internationally. This collaboration commenced with an initial project involving the audit of 8 water parks at tourist resorts, managed or sold by TUI in Turkey this summer. Having successfully implemented this initial project the collaboration will be expanded further, to cover sites in Egypt and Mexico. Continue reading…

Agustín Carstens

I would like to thank the organisers of the 2023 High-Level Meeting on banking supervision for the Americas for inviting me to speak today. It is a pleasure to join you to discuss lessons from the bank failures that occurred in March this year. Recent bank failures in the United States and Switzerland have prompted a debate about the adequacy of the current prudential framework for preserving financial stability. In particular, these episodes have shed light on how bank resolution frameworks are functioning. As you know, resolution frameworks are one of the key innovations that followed the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). Authorities adopted several measures to make bank failure management frameworks less dependent on public support. Continue reading…

The Commission has adopted a new Communication on Enhancing the European Administrative Space[*1] (ComPAct), which proposes concrete actions to help public administrations meet the needs of people and businesses across Europe. ComPAct is the Commission’s first ever comprehensive set of actions to support the modernisation of national administrations and to strengthen their cross-country collaboration so that they can address common challenges together. Efficient national, regional and local public administrations are critical to deliver EU and national priorities on the ground, to implement policies and reforms that benefit people and businesses alike, and to channel strategic investments towards the green and digital transitions. They are an important enabler for greater competitiveness across the EU. Better implementation of EU and national policies and more effective administrative performance will address the expectations of Europeans for less bureaucracy and more transparency, and could save EU people and businesses billions of euros per year. Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has recently published its latest Annual Report. The report, which was delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their meeting in Marrakesh, describes the FSB’s work to promote global financial stability. The report looks back at the banking turmoil in March 2023. It notes that swift and decisive actions were taken by the relevant authorities and that the already implemented Basel III reforms helped shield the global banking sector and real economy from a more severe banking crisis. The FSB’s review concludes that these events demonstrate the soundness of the international resolution framework but identifies several areas to enhance its implementation. Continue reading…

The European Commission has unconditionally approved the proposed acquisition of Seagen by Pfizer, under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). Seagen and Pfizer are pharmaceutical companies. Seagen specialises in oncology therapies, primarily in antibody drug conjugates (‘ADCs’). Pfizer’s oncology portfolio largely consists of hormone therapies, immunotherapies, and targeted therapies. In the EEA, the companies’ marketed and pipeline products overlap in the treatment of several cancer types such as breast, bladder, colorectal, cervical and lung cancer, as well as in lymphoma and leukaemia. By acquiring Seagen’s ADCs technology, Pfizer wishes to diversify its portfolio and accelerate the development and commercialisation of Seagen’s ADCs drugs.
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An international operation coordinated by France, with the support of Eurojust and Europol, has dealt an important blow to the Ragnar Locker ransomware group. In an action carried out between 16 and 20 October, searches were conducted in three different countries and in total six suspects were heard in the Czech Republic, Spain, Latvia and France. Furthermore, nine servers were taken down; five in the Netherlands, two in Germany and two in Sweden. The organised crime group is suspected of having committed attacks against 168 international companies worldwide since 2020. Continue reading…