In July 2023, the top court for matters related to EU law delivered a wave-making decision that confirmed a trend that has been ongoing for some time now—the increasing convergence between data protection and competition.
With the landmark preliminary ruling, the Court of Justice of the European Union not only confirmed that antitrust authorities can take privacy concerns into consideration when investigating whether a company has violated the bloc’s tough competition laws. The Luxembourg-based judges also ordered national competition authorities to consult their privacy peers when conducting antitrust investigations touching on GDPR questions, making such coordination a requirement under EU law for the first time.
