We are delighted to announce that Alena Kozakova, our Director in the E.CA’s London office, has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the UK’s Board of Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA). She will exercise her new role in addition to her role with us at E.CA.

As a Non-Executive Directors, Alena will be responsible for bringing independent oversight and support, and help guide the Office of Gas and Electricity Market (Ofgem) work on current and future challenges – from restoring resilience in the energy market to maintaining progress towards the UK’s net zero goals.

Alena’s appointment is a recognition of her outstanding skills and contribution as an economist in the public and private sectors. We are convinced that Alena will fulfill her tasks at GEMA in her usual excellent manner. We are very proud and happy to have you in the E.CA team. Congratulations, Alena!

Here is the official press release from GOV.UK.

E.CA economists have once again been recognised as leading economic experts. E.CA Economics has been ranked consistently amongst the top 24 international competition economics firms globally since 2008 by the Global Competition Review (GCR), where we once again appear this year in the “Highly Recommended” category. GCR explains that “E.CA Economics is home to a dynamic competition practice that extends across Europe and into the US, thanks to a well-established relationship with Bates White.” GCR refers amongst others to our recent “headline matters”, which includes “advising Meta on its acquisition of Giphy, which was conditionally cleared by Austria’s Cartel Court in February 2022 following a Phase II investigation by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority”.

Recently, the quality of our expertise was further recognized through the increasing number of our colleagues, which are listed by Who’s Who Legal (WWL). Indeed, WWL now lists Lars-Hendrik Röller and Alexis Walckiers as EconomicExperts, in addition to Hans W. Friederiszick, Simone Kohnz, Rainer Nitsche and our Academic Affiliate Frank Verboven, who were already listed last year. Our colleagues Rafael Aigner, Bas Dessens, Thomas Hildebrand and Alia Schweiger appear as FutureLeaders on the list. Congratulations to them: their listing is well deserved!

WWL further confirms our leading position in Germany, having 4 Experts and 3 Future Leaders on the list (more than any other firm), and our growing international footprint with two listed colleagues based in Brussels and one in London (where we opened an office last year).

Let us take this opportunity to thank our clients not only for the fantastic feedback they provided, which led to these recognitions, but also for the confidence they show in giving us the opportunity to work on interesting and (sometimes) challenging cases. Working with you makes us better every day!

We also want to congratulate our US partner Bates White Economic Consulting, who have 11 Experts listed by WWL.

WWL’s overview is available here: https://lnkd.in/eJJtVVg9
GCR’s overview is available here: https://lnkd.in/esidhrny
The firm’s profile is available here: https://lnkd.in/eMDe5F2q

E.CA Economics has been listed as the most recommended consulting firm in Germany by the leading German Law journal JUVE. In the article E.CA is referred to as “the clear international leader among German consulting firms in the field of competition economics”.

Our Managing Directors Rainer Nitsche and Hans W. Friederiszick are respectively ranked No 1 and No 2 competition economists in the German market in JUVE’s research of law firms and consultancies. Bas Dessens and Simone Kohnz, both Directors at E.CA, are also distinguished as renowned consultants.

With an increasing number of female directors, 3 out of 8 in total in Germany, E.CA stands out for its inclusive approach and diversity.

Read the article: Die ­Zahlenzauberer / JUVE Rechtsmarkt 06 2023 (Preview) | JUVE Kiosk

Thrilled to have participated in the Bonn Career Day once again. Malte Jeschonneck and Francesca Urzi, our aspiring economists, had the pleasure of sharing their experiences working in competition economics at E.CA Economics, and looking for talented economists to join our team.

As last year, it was a great experience. We met so many bright BA and Master students from all over the world. Thanks The University of Bonn for the great organisation.

More career fairs to come – hope to meet you soon!

Our full-day conference provided insights into recent developments in competition law and economics from a German and European perspective.

The sessions were aimed at practitioners, enforcers, and academics from the fields of law and economics.

Find out more

The Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission (DG COMP) has published a new study conducted by a consortium led by E.CA Economics on State aid in the field of rail transport. The results of the study will support the Commission in the revision of the current Community Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings. The consortium included E.CA Economics as lead partner as well as, LEAR, Sheppard Mullin and UEA and was supported by the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.

Find out more

Our experts Linda, Nadine and Alia share their knowledge on Germany’s dealings with antitrust law and updated the economist’s perspective of GCR’s Enforcer Hub. With detailed contributions direct from over 100 competition enforcement agencies around the world, GCR’s Enforcer Hub profiles both the legal and economic functions of the agencies, alongside enforcement history, strengths, and priorities.

What’s it about?

The implementation of the 10th amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) – also referred to as the “ARC Digitalisation Legislation” – on 19 January 2021[1] extended the enforcement power of the German Competition Authority with respect to digital platforms. Subsequently, the German Competition Authority decided that Alphabet/Google, Meta/Facebook and Amazon do indeed possess “paramount significance for competition across markets” (PSICAM) and, thus, are subject to Germany’s extended abuse control. Against that background, the German Competition Authority opened several proceedings against the leading online platforms, forging ahead in the race of European competition authorities to regulate the behaviour of Big Tech companies and to ensure fair competition (ie, a “level playing field”) in the digital economy. In the article, we will summarise the opened proceedings, which range from, for example, potentially insufficient choice options for consumers regarding Google’s data processing terms to the assessment of Apple’s tracking rules for third-party apps.

Read the article

We are pleased to announce the promotions of Elżbieta Głowicka and Anselm Mattes to Director in Berlin office.

Since joining E.CA Economics in 2013, dr. Ela Głowicka has provided economic advice in competition law matters in many European jurisdictions. She advised clients in private litigation cases about damages from cartels, vertical agreements and abuse of dominance. In the area of State aid, Ela has extensive expertise in the ex-post evaluation of the European State aid rules. She also supports merging parties in merger proceedings.

Before becoming an economic consultant, Ela gained a first-hand insight into competition policy enforcement as a member of the Chief Economist Team in DG Competition at European Commission. She holds a doctoral degree from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin for the thesis on State aid control applied to bailouts.

Dr. Anselm Mattes has more than 15 years of experience in economic consulting with a focus on applied empirical economics. Since 2006, Anselm has provided economic advice to a large range of clients, including the European Commission, several Federal Ministries in Germany and many private clients, ranging from start-ups to global players.

Before joining E.CA Economics, Anselm worked as a Manager and Senior Researcher at DIW Econ, the consulting firm of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), and as an Economist at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) in Tübingen.

Anselm holds a Doctoral degree in Economics from University of Tuebingen as well as a Master degree in Economics from the University of Hohenheim.

Congratulations!