Three chemical rubber companies have lost their appeal to annul an antitrust fine issued by the European Commission.

Switzerland’s Competition Commission (COMCO) has opened an investigation of 12 banks over allegedly conspiring to manipulate interest rates used in interbank loans.

Officials from three young but emerging competition law jurisdictions are taking proactive, sometimes unorthodox steps towards improving their enforcement programmes – including potentially using undercover agents to bust cartels. Ron Knox in Vancouver

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has published new guidelines regarding possible anti-competitive use of patents, focusing on standard setting.

Protecting small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) from competition in European markets will leave them underprepared for global competition, said a leading business delegate at the European Commission’s Competition Forum 2012. Faaez Samadi in Brussels

Mining giants Glencore and Xstrata are in talks to merge, potentially creating a company worth US$80 billion, subject to competition approval.

Europe’s Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia today revealed plans to modernise the European Commission’s state aid policy. Faaez Samadi in Brussels

Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission (CFC) has blocked the merger of mobile phone company Grupo Iusacell and media company Televisa.

Arnold & Porter has promoted Sonia Pfaffenroth to partner in its antitrust practice in Washington, DC.

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has upheld the Competition Commission’s (CC) decision to order airport management company BAA to sell its London Stansted airport.

Competition policy helps to promote innovation in European markets, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said today. Faaez Samadi in Brussels

Companies that discover their employees have taken part in a price fixing plot are faced with a series of decisions that may be crucial to their survival. Choose the right path, and the potential cost of the illegal activity could be minimal. But make a wrong step, and the penalties could prove fatal to the company’s future. Ron Knox in Vancouver

Once a company decides it needs to apply for leniency, the real challenge begins. It must move quickly to give enforcers enough information to qualify – and enforcers around the world must then coordinate a series of simultaneous dawn raids and interviews. Ron Knox in Vancouver.

The US$10.2 billion merger between NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse has finally collapsed after the European Commission decided to block the deal in a landmark ruling.

Chile’s National Competition Tribunal (TDLC) has fined two of the country’s largest pharmaceutical companies US$38 million for colluding to fix the price of drugs. It is the largest penalty ever imposed by the authority.