E.CA listed as top economic firm 2023 by WWL and GCR

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 #1 and #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. Congratulations!

With an increasing number of female directors, 3 out of 8 in total in Germany – Elżbieta Głowicka, Linda Gratz and Simone Kohnz – E.CA stands out for its inclusive approach and diversity.

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

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.

In the context of the European Green Deal, the European Union aims at doubling rail freight traffic by 2050. The revision of the current Railway Guidelines is aimed at supporting this ambitious goal. It provides detailed market information, based on desk research and data collection.

Once at the frontier of freight transport logistics, rail lost its dominant position to road transport during the 20th century. Over the last two decades, the rail modal share in freight transport has stagnated at a low level across Europe. In the last pre-pandemic year 2019, the share of rail in the total freight transport was at 8.8% on average in Europe with some degree of regional variation: Rail freight is less important in Southern Europe and more important in Eastern Europe.

This low modal share of rail endangers important goals in environmental and transport policy. The European Green Deal, to which the European Union committed in 2020, aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Compared to highly polluting road transport by truck, rail freight is a safe and low-emission type of transport. A substantial rise in the rail modal share will require improvements at three different levels of the overall rail freight system:

1. More, better and modern infrastructure. As of now, bottlenecks in rail network lead to congestion and slow and unreliable delivery times; outdated infrastructure makes cross-border transport tedious; facilities like intermodal terminals with outdated technology increase transport times and costs; private sidings are often missing to connect customers to the rail network.
2. More and up-to-date rolling stock. The existing fleet of rolling stock will not suffice for a substantial increase of the rail modal share. Furthermore, a significant share of the rolling stock is outdated and not fit for future requirements, such as automated coupling etc.
3. Rail freight must become competitive with road transport. Rail freight is often in close competition with road transport. This holds especially true for combined transport and single-wagon transport. Only if rail freight is overall cheaper, shippers will choose rail transport instead of road transport. At the moment, rail freight is not competitive in many cases – as the low modal share proves.

Public policies can improve this situation. One way – among others – is a modern State aid framework that encourages the modal share. One the one hand, the study provides market data on the rail freight market, such as the costs and revenues associated with rail freight. On the other hand, the study provides policy options, including examples of good practices, for the design of State aid for rail freight which can support and guide the revision of the Railway Guidelines.

Contact our experts:

Elżbieta Głowicka

Anselm Mattes

DOWNLOAD POLICY BRIEFING

DOWNLOAD FULL STUDY

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!

We are proud to share the exciting news with you. E.CA Economics is growing and getting stronger. We start the new year celebrating the promotion of our exceptional colleagues:

Promotion to Principal: Alia Schweiger
Promotion to Manager: Michael Kaiser
Promotion to Senior Economist: Nicola Heusel and Zachary Herriges

Congratulations!

We are pleased to share that WWL Germany 2023 has once again singled out Hans W. Friederiszick, Rainer Nitsche and Simone Kohnz – our E.CA Economics directors – as having a first-class reputation as competition economists. We always strive to perform strongly and thus respond to the trust of our clients, colleagues and peers.

Who’s Who Legal says about us:

Hans Friederiszick garners plaudits from market respondents for his well-established practice which sees him advise clients on a range of cartel and merger disputes.

Rainer Nitsche has amassed a wealth of experience navigating clients through complex competition matters, particularly when it comes to cartels and abuse of dominance.

Simone Kohnz is a leading figure in the German market thanks to her first-rate work testifying on a wide range of competition matters and multijurisdictional experience.

Many thanks for the cooperation and support!

Find out more

Our directors Hans W. Friederiszick and Lars-Hendrik Röller are looking forward to participating in the 16th International Conference on Competition and Regulation, organised by CRESSE – Competition and Regulation European Summer School and Conference.

CRESSE is a network of academics and professionals, practicing in competition or regulatory authorities, consultancies and legal practices, with an interest in competition policy and sectoral regulation. It was initiated by Prof. Yannis Katsoulacos in 2005.

Programme

Our directors Hans W. Friederiszick and Alena Kozakova are looking forward to the 2022 Hal White Antitrust Conference on June 23, 2022 in Washington, DC – a conference connecting the antitrust community with knowledge, ideas and lively discussions. Bates White Economic Consulting and E.CA Economics maintain an exclusive cooperative partnership to provide international antitrust services in the United States and Europe.

Our director Alexis Walckiers has been appointed assessor of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA). “I am delighted to have the opportunity to sit as an assessor for the Belgian Competition Authority. This is an important role, and I look forward to contributing to a balanced decision process. On a personal note, I am also very enthusiastic to get to see the many friends I made at the BCA from time to time.”

The BCA comprises an Investigation Service (the Investigation and Prosecution Service) and a decision-making body (Competition College). The decision-making body is the Competition College for all infringement cases that are not settled or closed by the Investigation and Prosecution Service, as well as all non-simplified merger control procedures. The BCA President presides over the Competition College. For each case, the Competition College consists of the president and two assessors.

Congratulations to Juri Demuth, Hans W. Friederiszick and Steffen Reinhold who’s article has been shortlisted for the 2022 Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards.

Read and vote for the article

New year, next step: it’s time to celebrate the promotion of our excellent colleagues.

Promotion to Associate Principal: Rafael Aigner

Promotion to Manager: Alexander Paul, Arvid Viaene

Promotion to Senior Economist: Ignacio Balaguer López, Alix De Loustal, Simon Franke, Niklas Gebhard, Michael Kaiser and Jan Christopher Rönn

Promotion to Economist: Luca Rancati

Congratulations!

E.CA Economics has once again been recommended both by Who’s Who Legal (WWL) and Global Competition Review (GCR). Both offer a comprehensive listing and analysis of the world’s top antitrust and competition practices.

In the guide “Germany 2022 – Competition Economists”, WWL states that “E.CA Economics stands out with three listings here.” Hans W. Friederiszick, Simone Kohnz and Rainer Nitsche were named to that list as highly recommended competition economists. Who’s Who Legal annually identifies the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law by evaluating more than 250,000 third-party recommendations and conducting 5,000 interviews with leading practitioners.

GCR listed E.CA for the 14th time in a row as of the world’s leading antitrust economics consultancies: “A compact consultancy that solely focuses on competition matters, E.CA Economics punches above its weight with teams in Berlin, Munich, Brussels and London.” The “Economics 23” ranking is based on measures including the number of dedicated antitrust economists in the firm, work over the past year, and the number of nominations to Who’s Who Legal: Competition.

WWL’s overview is available here.

GCR’s  overview is available here.

The firm’s 2022 Economics 23 profile is available here.

We are passionate about Competition Economics: How about you? Let‘s meet and find out this Friday at the Business Networking Day 2021, organised by the Toulouse School of Economics. You will have the opportunity to discover new insights for your consulting career in competition economics – virtually with Valeria Plata Franco and on site in Toulouse with Alix de Loustal and Juri Simons.

When: 26.11.2021, 8.30 am-5.30 pm

Visit our career site for open positions

Looking forward to new insights, lively discussions and great networking: the 2021 Annual ACE conference is coming up on the 18th and 19th of November 2021. Hans W. Friederiszick will chair a panel on “Telecoms Mergers – the Judgement by the General Court on CK Telecoms”, and Alexis Walckiers will chair a panel on “The role of Google Ads as a source of traffic for websites”. Please join us!

The ACE (Association of Competition Economics) conference will take place in Barcelona, hosted by Massimo Motta at the Barcelona School of Economics. The conference will be an in-person event. The keynote speech will be presented online by Jean Tirole.

More information

Draft VBER and hybrid platforms: one size fits all? Join our associate principal Alia Schweiger in an online talk on “Vertical Block Exemption Regulation & Guidelines on Vertical Restraints: From dual distribution to dual pricing”, together with Bettina Leupold, Sophie Moonen and Stephanie Pautke, organised by Women AT. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, 17 November 2021, 13.30-15.00 CET and is open to all interested professionals, regardless of gender.

Register now

European economics consultancy E.CA Economics is strengthening its ranks with the UK-based microeconomist Alena Kozakova. Alena’s focus is competition and economic regulation economics established in public authorities and consulting. As a director and member of E.CA’s leadership team, she will be responsible for business activities at the London office and elsewhere.

Download Press Release here

The latest research of our director Hans W. Friederiszick, our manager Juri Demuth, and Steffen Reinhold has just been published in the Review of Industrial Organization.

After earlier waves of privatization, local governments have increasingly taken back control of local service provisions in some sectors and countries and instead started providing those services themselves (reverse privatization). Using a unique panel dataset on the mode of service provision for solid waste collection for German municipalities that cover the years 2003, 2009, and 2015, the researchers investigate the motives for reverse privatization. Their results show that—in deciding whether to insource or not—municipalities react to the cost advantages of private suppliers as well as to the competitive environment and municipal activity: there is more switching to insourcing in concentrated markets and in markets with horizontally or vertically related public services. Local interest groups influence this decision as well.

Link to the article

We are happy to announce that E.CA Economics is participating in Barcelona School of Economics’ Virtual Career Fair 2021.
On 22 October, Jan Christopher Rönn and Ignacio Balaguer López will represent E.CA Economics and inform you about career opportunities as a postgraduate in Economics.

Once more the Competition & Regulation European Summer School and Conference (CRESSE) will be dealing with competition and sectoral regulation issues with emphasis on the policy relevance: tomorrow, the 15th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPETITION AND REGULATION starts. This year’s theme: Advances in the analysis of competition policy and regulation.

Our director Hans W. Friederiszick is looking forward to chairing a special policy session on “Systematically incorporating innovation in Competition Law Enforcement” with the panelists Eliana Garces (Facebook), Dr. Marc Ivaldi (Toulouse School of Economics and NERA Economic Consulting), Bruno JULLIEN (Toulouse School of Economics), Kai-Uwe Kühn (Brattle), Aviv Nevo (University of Pennsylvania) and Howard Shelanski (Georgetown University).

More information on CRESSE conference
See the full programme here

E.CA Economics has announced the promotion of Bas Dessens to Director. He will be responsible for business activities at the London office. He has been with E.CA Economics since 2006, and has extensive experience in the field of competition economics. Bas Dessens, who was previously a Principal at E.CA Economics, joins the leadership team with the promotion.

Download Press Release here

What level of levies on electricity prices bears the risk that energy-intensive firms relocate? A consortium headed by E.CA Economics provides the EC with an economic study for the EEAG revision

Link to Press Release in EN

Welche Abgabenhöhe auf den Strompreis führt zu einem Verlagerungsrisiko für energieintensive Unternehmen? Ein Konsortium unter Leitung von E.CA Economics liefert der Europäischen Kommission eine ökonomische Studie für die EEAG-Revision

Link to Press Release in DE

Our associate principal Vilen Lipatov will take part in the Online Executive Education Program of the Toulouse School of Economics, on June 17 (11:15am-12:45pm). He will be a discussant to the lecture “ALGORITHMIC PRICING AND COMPETITION: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE” by Daniel Ershov, Professor, TSE. Vilen and other participants will share their thoughts about the most relevant issues concerning the use of algorithms as screening devices by competition agencies.

Link to Registration

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Annual international conference NEW FRONTIERS OF ANTITRUST, organised by Concurrences
WEBINAR | Wednesday 9 June 2021 15.30 – 17.00 CEST

VERTICAL RESTRICTIONS: VBER, EVERYTHING CHANGED?

Our director Alexis Walckiers will discuss the revision of the vertical guidelines and VBER with Svend Albaek, Adviser to Chief Economist, DG COMP, Brussels, Luc Peeperkorn, Professor, Brussels School of Competition and College of Europe, Former Principal Advisor Antitrust Policy at European Commission, DG COMP, Brussels and Thibaud Vergé, Professor of Economics, ENSAE, Paris. The moderator will be Laurence Idot, Emeritus Professor, University Paris II Panthéon-Assas, President, Concurrences Review Scientific Committee.

Link to registration

While the European Commission is exploring a possible revision of the VBER and of the Vertical Guidelines and assessing the various policy options proposed, the panel will reflect on some of the relevant issues and subjects in the VBER, some more controversial than others, but all having been over the years at the center of the debates on the legal framework applying to vertical restraints.

Link to interview: Svend Albaek in conversation with Alexis Walckiers

E.CA is thrilled to announce that three articles written by E.CA colleagues have been selected for the 2021 Antitrust Writing Awards by Concurrences and The George Washington University for the best Academic article category. This year, the Editorial Committee received a record-breaking of 1,200+ submissions. The full articles of the nominees can be read online.

The nominees are:

• in the subcategory “10. Digital”: Özlem Bedre-Defolie and Rainer Nitsche, “When do markets tip? An overview and some insights for policy”, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, December 2020, Volume 11, Issue 10.
• in the subcategory “11. Economics”: Hans W. Friederiszick, Linda Gratz and Michael Rauber, “The impact of EU cartel policy reforms on the timing of settlements in private follow-on damages disputes—an empirical assessment of cases from 2001 to 2015”, Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, November 9, 2020.
• in the subcategory “11. Economics”:
  Vilen Lipatov, Damien Neven and Georges Siotis, “Pre-empting the entry of near perfect substitutes”, Journal of Competition Law & Economics, March 2021, Volume 17, Issue 1.

Gregor Langus takes part in the virtual roundtable discussion on “Platform envelopment through data – When does it lead to market foreclosure?”, organised by the Digital Markets Competition Forum of the Copenhagen Business School.

Does platform envelopment create data advantages and high entry barriers for competitors? Should data aggregation be restricted? The workshop revisits the concept of platform envelopment, the value creation nature of data aggregation and repurposing in the context of digital platform ecosystems as well as the potential role of data for platform monopolistic entrenchment and the policy implications.

The virtual roundtable discussion takes place on 15th April 2021.

Our directors Linda Gratz and Alexis Walckiers participate as mentors in the W@Competition Mentoring Programme.

Women@Competition is a platform for women competition professionals – striving to enable women professionals to be easily found, normalise women professionals’ presence in public space and to facilitate connections among women professionals.

In the mentoring program, female mentees are matched with mentors who work in a complementary discipline of the profession (e.g. in-house lawyer with private practice economist, or European Commission official with private practice lawyer). Eligible mentees are female professionals who could benefit from external mentoring and who would like to be inspired by a fresh perspective on how to thrive their careers.

#internationalwomensday #womenineconomics #womenatcompetition

LinkedIn Post

Dear SCOPE Maastricht students, stop by our virtual booth at the Maastricht Business Days and get to know us. Alix DE LOUSTAL, Harm van Leeuwen and Josefin Karg will show you who we are and what we do – and answer your questions.

Link to the event

Link to registration

Linda Gratz has been promoted to Director in our Munich office. Her areas of expertise include damage assessments in multiple cartel proceedings and abuse of dominance investigations. She also has particular expertise in the assessment of mergers in industries such as telecommunications, construction materials, copper, FMCG, press logistics and touristic flights.

With her promotion, Linda joins the leadership team of E.CA Economics, now comprising seven directors: Hans W. Friederiszick, Linda Gratz, Thomas Hildebrand, Simone Kohnz, Gregor Langus, Rainer Nitsche and Alexis Walckiers.

Download press release here

Our directors Hans W. Friederiszick, Thomas Hildebrand, Simone Kohnz and Rainer Nitsche have written this year’s Global Competition Review Enforcer Hub’s economics perspective on Germany.

The article showcases the high level of competition law enforcement of the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office, FCO) over the past year, which led to important court victories. Besides a number of interventions in traditional industries, the FCO undoubtedly focused on recent developments in digital markets, where various policy papers demonstrate its appetite to shape the debate in this field. We do not expect any change from that perspective in the coming years: with the 10th Amendment of the German Competition Act in implementation, the FCO’s initiatives will be grounded in an antitrust law tailored towards digital markets.

Read more

An extract from GCR’s Enforcer Hub. The whole publication is available here.

We are proud to announce the following promotions – Linda Gratz, Director; Michael Rauber, Associate Principal; Brecht Boone, Manager; Benedikt Fluegel, Jan Melcher, Florian Peiseler, Valeria Plata Franco, Senior Economist, Mariana Rocha, Team Assistant and Project Coordinator. Congratulations – Great success!