Merger Control

Merger Control Faros, Faros, 191 p.

Competition law contains specific rules regarding the assessment of concentrations. The concept of concentrations encompasses a broad range of transactions typically encountered in the M&A world. These include acquisitions through share or asset deals, as well as the creation of certain types of joint ventures.

Where such transactions result in a change of control and exceed certain quantitative thresholds (generally linked to turnover figures), they must be notified to the competent competition authority. This Toolbook focuses primarily on notifications to the Belgian Competition Authority and the European Commission.

Vertical Agreements in EU Competition Law (4th edition)

Vertical Agreements in EU Competition Law (4th edition) Frank Wijckmans - Filip Tuytschaever, Oxford University Press, 569 p.

Oxford University Press informed us that the 4th edition of “Vertical Agreements in EU Competition Law” is being printed at this very moment. This monograph has in the meantime become the standard reference work (some call it even their “bible”) concerning the EU competition law assessment of vertical (say: distribution and supply) agreements. Frank Wijckmans commented: “With a brand new block exemption Regulation and fresh Vertical Guidelines, we received so many encouragements to produce this new edition that there was no way around it. To be honest, no encouragement was needed. We jumped on these important developments right away and hope that our readers will find this new edition of great practical use”.

Bos Door De Bomen – Mededingingsrecht (Dutch)

Frank Wijckmans - Filip Tuytschaever - Emmelie Wijckmans - Herlinde Burez, LeA Publishers, 2022, 377 p.

This book is the ultimate guide for in-house lawyers, general practitioners and students in the fields of European and Belgian competition law. It is written in clear language and is filled with practical examples. Getting to understand and apply competition law was never made easier.

Vertical Agreements and Dominant Firms (9th ed)

Emmelie Wijckmans - Frank Wijckmans - ICLG, 2025, p.35-42

Emmelie Wijckmans and Frank Wijckmans continued the tradition of providing guidance in the ICLG Guide on the application of the EU rules on vertical agreements to dominant players. This year’s edition adds input on the most recent initiatives of the EU Commission and the recent caselaw of the Court in Luxemburg. The Q&A format of the ICLG Guide lends itself to a very pragmatic presentation of the relevant answers to the most relevant questions in this particular area. Practitioners will enjoy the overview that is thus provided in a very hands-on manner (which is completely in line with the style of the house at Faros).

Bos door de Bomen - Forest for the Trees (2nd edition) (Dutch)

Frank Wijckmans - Filip Tuytschaever - Emmelie Wijckmans - Herlinde Burez, LeA Publishers, 2025, 423 p.

This second edition of “Bos door de Bomen (Forst for the Trees)” brings, in a similar fashion as the first edition, competition law as closely as possible to anyone interested in this field of the law. All relevant aspects of competition law are addressed in an accessible manner and linked to practical examples and examples stemming from the caselaw.

Emmelie Wijckmans, one of the authors, commented: “The speed with which important developments occurred since the first edition made such a new edition truly necessary. With the entry into force of three important new block exemption regulations and two sets of fresh Commission guidelines major parts required a substantial overhaul. In addition, new caselaw merited appropriate attention. We hope that this second edition finds its way to the desks of many practitioners”.

Horizontal agreements - Block exemptions & Horizontal Guidelines - Toolbook

Emmelie Wijckmans - Frank Wijckmans - Maaike Visser - Karolien Francken - Annemie Van De Vliet - Morgane Smets - LeA Publishers, 2023, 328 p.

This first part of the Toolbook (p. 1 – 103) offers the practitioner a practical introduction to the world of competition law applied to horizontal agreements. It does so in a practice-oriented Q&A format.

The general framework of analysis is addressed and then each of the classic types of horizontal agreements is presented. These types include research and development agreements, production agreements, purchasing agreements, commercialization agreements, bidding consortia, information exchange, standardization agreements, standard terms and sustainability agreements. The Q&A format ensures that the topics are split into digestible parts offering each time a clear answer to a clear question.

The second part of the Toolbook includes the full text of the relevant block exemption regulations (applicable to research and development, and specialization in production respectively) and the full text of the 2023 Horizontal Guidelines.

The Toolbook ends with a handy index that cross-references to the paragraphs of the Q&A contained in the first part.

Vertical Block Exemption Regulation - Toolbook

Frank Wijckmans - Karolien Francken, LeA Publishers, 2022, 123 p.

The first part of the Toolbook (p. 1-35) guides the reader through the current regime on vertical agreements based on a Q&A. The aim is to render this field of competition law as accessible as possible for practitioners.

The second part consists of the texts of Regulation 2022/720, the Vertical Guidelines and the UK Competition Act 1998 (Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022. In all these texts key words are highlighted to make their use easier.

The third part consists of an index with cross-references to the first part of the Toolbook.