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The article will discuss the boundaries of UK merger control set by national security concerns against the background of public interest considerations in the decisional practice of the competent authorities. The article will first present an overview of the existing legal framework for considering public interest when reviewing mergers and acquisitions in strategic industries or companies. It will then present the main precedents where issues of national security were raised and will discuss how the CMA and the Secretary of State assessed these transactions from both a competition and national security angle. Finally, the article will present the recent legislative initiative by the UK Government to extend national security grounds reflects a new approach towards FDI.

This article discusses the European Commission's investigation of Google in relation to the alleged abuse in the online search market concerning Google's comparison shopping service. Drawing a comparison with the investigation conducted by the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S., the analysis focuses on whether the conditions of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) are satisfied and whether there is scope to conclude that the Google's conduct has caused harm to consumers or restricted competition. In particular, insights relating to the treatment of innovation in competition law will be provided. Finally, the article aims at shedding light on the investigation and at predicting the possible theory of harm to which the European Commission will make reference.