Algorithms and AI are rapidly reshaping how companies set prices and compete, but they are also attracting intensified antitrust scrutiny. Competition authorities have made clear that technological sophistication does not neutralise traditional cartel risks, and may even amplify them.
Digital accessibility is rapidly moving up the regulatory agenda. Recent findings by the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) show that 61% of the largest Dutch webshops are still not digitally accessible. A clear signal that action is needed.
Unternehmen mit energie‑, rohstoff- oder logistikintensiven Geschäftsmodellen stehen erneut stark unter Druck: Der Iran‑Konflikt hat die Straße von Hormus als Engpass des Welthandels in den Fokus gerückt. Über diese Meerenge läuft rund ein Fünftel des weltweiten Rohölverbrauchs und etwa 20 Prozent des LNG‑Handels; Blockaden und Angriffe führen zu massiven Preissprüngen bei Öl und Gas, aber auch bei Düngemitteln, chemischen Vorprodukten und Frachtraten.
The DHS shutdown continues as the White House and Congressional leaders negotiate to fully reopen the Department.
The European Commission (Commission) has published its proposal for the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA). The IAA is designed to boost demand for clean and “Made in EU” products in key strategic sectors. It aims to strengthen the Union’s economic resilience and strategic autonomy by creating lead markets for European low-carbon industrial products, attracting high-quality foreign investment and accelerating manufacturing projects through streamlined permitting. The proposed IAA could significantly affect suppliers in covered energy-intensive sectors and net-zero technologies, and non-EU investors in battery technologies, electric vehicles, solar PV and critical raw materials. Below, we outline the implications of the IAA’s “Made in Europe” provisions together with its new foreign direct investment (FDI) screening regime.
The European Commission’s proposal for an Industrial Accelerator Act is intended to strengthen the EU’s industrial competitiveness, stimulate decarbonisation, and reduce strategic supply-chain dependencies.
The Netherlands has long been a respected maritime jurisdiction, combining a strategic geographic position with a sophisticated legal and financial infrastructure. Yet the competitive dynamics of global shipping are shifting. In an October 2024 letter to Parliament (Kamerstukken II 2024–2025, 31 409, nr. 467), the Minister (at that time) of Infrastructure and Water Management noted that, measured over the past decade, the number of vessels flying the Dutch flag has declined by approximately 9% in absolute terms. Over the same period, the global fleet expanded significantly – particularly in segments such as large container shipping, in which Dutch shipowners are comparatively less active.
On 12 March, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License No. 134, granting a short-term waiver that permits, until 11 April 2026, all transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the sale, delivery, or offloading of crude oil and petroleum products of Russian origin previously stranded under sanctions. The move, framed as a response to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the resulting disruption to global oil supply, marks a significant, if temporary, shift in US sanctions policy towards Russia. For more details, including on the exception to the above-mentioned waiver, please read the full text of the General License (link).
Mid December 2025, the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of the European Union concluded their trilogue negotiations with their provisional agreement on the European Commission’s Omnibus package. The final text of the Omnibus Directive was adopted by the Council of the European Union on 24 February 2026 and was published in the EU Official Journal on 26 February 2026. Aiming to simplify the EU’s sustainability reporting framework, the Omnibus package covers, among other items, the CSRD, the CSDDD, and the EU Taxonomy Regulation. The Omnibus Directive has many aims, one being to set out the scoping criteria for both the CSRD and the CSDDD. In short on the CSDDD, due diligence obligations will apply only to (i) large EU entities with more than 5,000 employees and net annual turnover exceeding EUR 1.5 billion, and (ii) non-EU entities with turnover exceeding EUR 1.5 billion generated within the EU. The remainder of this blog focuses on the updates from the CSRD’s perspective.
The EU–India Free Trade Agreement is being described as the “Mother of all Deals” and with good reason. Concluded after nearly two decades of negotiations, this landmark agreement between two major economic blocs is set to reshape how goods, services, capital, and technology move between India and Europe.
