Assisting in a European Commission request, Euretco
With formats such as Intersport and Libris, Euretco is a fixture in the retail landscape. We are at home at Euretco, we have worked closely together for a long time and took care of the recruitment of the current in-house lawyer. In the heart of summer comes a request for support in a compelling information request from the European Commission. It is investigating whether tech giant Apple is guilty of abuse of power following complaints from competitors such as Spotify. There is also the lawsuit by Epic (known for the game Fortnite) against the company. Wanting to understand the market and the playing field, the European Commission is questioning Libris about its share of online/electronic content sales. In the case of Libris e-books and audiobooks. This is highly confidential information for the client but due to the compelling nature of the EU Commission's information request, not answering was not an option, as a breach. By responding quickly, acting strategically and engaging the right people, we completed the assignment within the European Commission's firm deadline.
Saskia Baan, compliance & legal counsel:
‘Our contact was just before her holiday, I said: just go, we’ll take care of it. This is a good indication of how personal the relationship between Euretco and Halsten is, how short the lines are and how great the mutual trust is. An investigation like this is a guessing game: what information is essential to share? The catch is that the information shared can be made public. Internally, we scaled up immediately and provided practical support in sorting and analysing data. We also involved a competition law specialist from our network. His expertise complemented our research; moreover, through the specialist’s professional secrecy, we were able to further protect the confidentiality of Euretco/Libris data. Together, this made it possible for us to answer the question quickly, carefully and at the right level. Such an assignment is legal in nature, but largely revolves around communication, assessing expectations while safeguarding the client’s interests. For me, as a lawyer and tech enthusiast, I am energised by a case like this, where you are so close to current events – Epic/Fortnite versus Apple on your own desk.’
Project features
- Scaling up quickly, internally and externally
- Assessment game: what information is necessary to share?
- Highly topical and relevant topic
- Mutual trust between client and lawyer
- Competition law