Competition and Regulated Markets

We provide our clients a full range of services on European and Dutch competition law and regulatory matters. We have ample expertise in the field of cartels, distribution and agency agreements, cooperation agreements, leniency, abuse of dominance, compliance, inspections by competition authorities (dawn raids), merger control, state aid, FDI screening, consumer protection, public procurement and level-playing-field disputes, and preventing and resolving regulatory and consumer law disputes.

We have a market-leading energy regulatory practice and ample experience in other regulated markets, including healthcare, water and waste, transport and aviation, and technology and e-commerce.

Our team

Mattijs Baneke

Mattijs Baneke

Joost  van den  Bogaerd

Joost van den Bogaerd

Zita van den Bosch

Zita van den Bosch

Linde Bremmer

Linde Bremmer

Ruben Elkerbout

Ruben Elkerbout

Veii Jacobs

Veii Jacobs

Eline Grondman

Eline Grondman

Jan Erik Janssen

Jan Erik Janssen

Gerard de Jongh

Gerard de Jongh

Tobias Kok

Tobias Kok

Bart van Oorschot

Bart van Oorschot

Philine Wassenaar

Philine Wassenaar

The team is commended by clients for its “extensive experience in competition law,” and clients also admire the lawyers’ “solid, no-nonsense and quick advice.”

Chambers Europe - Competition / European Law

Competition

Cartels and abuse of dominance

We have ample experience with cartel and abuse of dominance cases:

  • Cartel and abuse of dominance investigations: Stek’s Dawn Raid Team offers immediate assistance with unannounced inspections by the Dutch competition authority (Autoriteit Consument & Markt) and the European Commission. We represent clients in administrative procedures before the authorities and courts and have ample experience with leniency procedures;
  • Cartel litigation: Our competition litigation team combines the litigation skills of Stek’s litigators with the competition unit’s robust knowledge of every aspect of competition law. The team represents major corporates and financial institutions in complex domestic and multi-jurisdictional cartel cases (stand alone and follow-on);
  • Compliance: We provide practical and ready-to-use advice on all competition-law-related compliance matters, including distribution systems, cooperation agreements, information exchange, and dominance.

Merger control

Our competition team is well versed in merger control procedures. The team’s broad experience includes:

  • Dutch and EU merger control filings: We work on merger filings on a daily basis and our experience includes complex second-phase procedures before the Dutch competition authority (Autoriteit Consument & Markt) and the European Commission;
  • Multi-jurisdictional merger filings: We coordinate multi-jurisdictional merger control filings and can call on our extensive international network of top-tier law firms for filings in foreign jurisdictions around the world;
  • Other merger control issues: In addition to its broad experience in competition law merger control, the team regularly notifies mergers to the Dutch healthcare authority (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit) under the healthcare-specific merger control rules.

Other areas of expertise

The team’s broad capabilities also include:

  • State aid: The team advises on all aspects of state aid law and represents clients on state-aid-related matters before the courts;
  • Consumer protection: We represent clients in consumer protection investigations by the ACM;
  • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) screening: Our experience includes FDI screening procedures and coordinating filings in foreign jurisdictions.

For specific examples of our extensive competition law experience, please refer to our strong track record.

Regulated Markets

The Regulated Markets team advises and litigates on sector-specific issues and represents clients before European and national regulators and policymakers on sector-specific legislation and litigation issues.

We help clients in the complex world of changing laws and regulations, as well as regulation and enforcement of sector-specific laws and regulations by regulators like the ACM. We can provide assistance and advice across every sector of the economy.

The best in the Netherlands; fantastic reputation

(Chambers Europe – Energy and Natural Resources)

We have unique expertise and an outstanding track record in the Energy and Utilities sector. We represent our clients (including major industrialists, grid managers, energy producers, energy suppliers and industry associations) in oil and gas, electricity and heat, and in the development of relatively new activities around CCS(U) (carbon capture and storage (and usage)), geothermal energy, sustainable heat, green hydrogen and sustainable and circular energy projects. We are involved in key themes like energy transition and energy law in the broadest sense and help our clients resolve or prevent disputes or issues in areas including tariff regulation, state aid, market and government, subsidies (such as the SDE(++)), electricity grid congestion, market abuse (REMIT), handling complex connection situations, major accidents and grid failures, and ambiguities in European and Dutch legislation and regulations. We also assist clients in designing (energy) projects and transactions in regulated markets and help mitigate the risks in these projects around planning law, including environmental law and spatial administrative law.

Want to know more?

Would you like to know more about how we can help you? Please contact:

Track record

Stek victorious for USG

Stek has successfully represented Utility Support Group in the objections procedure of Sabic Petrochemicals against the decline of Sabic’s enforcement …

Milestone in damages action against Google on behalf of publishers

The European Commission (EC) has sent a Statement of Objections to Google. The EC is concerned that Google may have illegally distorted …

Stek represents Global Food Group in the ACM investigation into an alleged purchasing cartel

Stek is representing Global Food Group, an egg product manufacturer, in a sanction procedure initiated by the Authority for Consumers …

Blog

Developments on indepence of the Dutch energy regulator ACM

In an article published on Lexology, Bart van Oorschot discusses the recent developments on the independence of the Dutch energy …

Sumal implications: effective enforcement of European competition law or undesirable forum shopping?

The Netherlands have long been known as a preferred forum within the European Union for follow-on cartel damage claims, partly …

DMA FAQs – what you need to know about the new Digital Markets Act

Regulation 2022/1925, also known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), has been a hot topic for discussion the past few …