On 12 September 2025, the European Commission made the commitments offered by Microsoft – to address the Commission’s concerns about Teams – legally binding (see theCommission’s press release).
For 7 resp. 10 years, Microsoft has committed to:
Make available versions of its most popular suites without Teams and at a lower price,
Offer customers with long-term contracts more opportunities to switch to suites without Teams,
Provide interoperability between competing tools and certain Microsoft products for key functionalities, and
Allow customers to extract their Teams messaging data to use in other competing tools.
The indirect acquisition of Atlas Group (Admiral) by Tipico, a CVC portfolio company, gave rise to competition concerns in the Austrian gambling and sportsbetting market. Tipico has committed vis-a-vis the Austrian competition authorities to
divest 20 of its bet shops owned to one or several purchasers and
ensure that 14 bet shops operated by franchise partners will continue to be operated under a new brand and using new technology.
As a monitoring and potential divestiture trustee, ALCIS oversees Tipico’s compliance with the commitments.
The merger of the contract logistics groups GXO (US) and Wincanton (UK) raised competition concerns of the UK Competition and Market Authority(CMA) in the UK market for dedicated warehousing services to groceries.
As a remedy, GXO and Wincanton committed to divest Wincanton’s UK grocery warehousing business to a CMA-approved buyer. The Divestment Business is currently being sold.
ALCIS has been acting as monitoring trustee to the CMA.
On 23 May 2025, the CMA accepted Commitments from Vifor Pharma to address the CMA’s concerns about the alleged disparagement of a competitor’s intravenous iron treatment (see the Non-confidential Decision).
Vifor Pharma committed to:
make a voluntary payment to the NHS
launch a multi-channel communications campaign, and
implement several compliance measures to prevent the future dissemination of potentially misleading communications.
The acquisition of the German energy service provider EQOS by the French construction group Eiffage raised competition concerns of the EU Commission in the Belgian rail service sector.
As a remedy, Eiffage and EQOS committed to divest EQOS’ Belgian subsidiary specialized in installation and maintenance of catenaries and tracks. The Divestment Business was sold to the Belgian construction group Stadsbader.
ALCIS has been acting as monitoring trustee of the EU Commission.
UK sportswear retail group JD Sports’ acquisition of its French competitor Groupe Courir raised competition concerns of the EU Commission in multiple local retail catchment areas in France and Portugal.
As a remedy, JD Sports committed to divest 21 Courir stores in France and Portugal. All stores were sold to the German sportswear retailer Snipes (of the Deichmann Group).
ALCIS has been acting as monitoring trustee of the EU Commission.
On 11 July 2024, the European Commission acceptedCommitments by Apple to open access to its NFC technology – for contactless payment on iPhones in stores – for competing mobile wallet providers for 10 years in the EEA (see the Commission’s press release and the Commitments).
ALCIS is appointed as Monitoring Trustee to oversee the implementation of these Commitments.
In this capacity, ALCIS acts as a contact point for third parties in relation to these Commitments and their implementation (please reach out via ApplePay.EC-commitments@alcis-advisers.com).
Developers suspecting non-compliance with the Commitments may submit a substantiated, written complaint to the Monitoring Trustee. To file a complaint, please use the Complaint Form (Complaint Form) and send it to ApplePay.EC-commitments@alcis-advisers.com or per mail at:
Alcis Advisers GmbH
Fasanenstraße 73
10719 Berlin, Germany
Complaints about Apple’s decisions on specific access to the NFC Entitlement Program shall be placed to HCEEntitlementDispute@apple.com
On 22 July 2024, the European Commission made the commitments offered by Vifor – to address the Commission’s concerns about the alleged disparagement of a competitor’s intravenous iron treatment – legally binding.
Over 10 years, Vifor committed to:
launch a multi-channel communication campaign,
refrain from any external promotional and medical communication on the safety of the competitor’s drug, and
implement a series of internal safeguards and training to ensure compliance.
ALCIS is appointed as Monitoring Trustee to oversee the implementation of these Commitments.
Amazon’s Commitments to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority
On 3 November 2023, the CMA accepted the Commitments offered by Amazon to not use marketplace seller data for its own retail operations, ensure non-discriminatory access to Buy Box, and allow sellers to negotiate their own delivery rates directly with independent providers of Prime delivery services (see the CMA’s press releaseand Non-confidential Decision).
ALCIS is appointed as Monitoring Trustee to oversee the implementation of these Commitments.
Sellers and carriers suspecting non-compliance with the Commitments may submit a substantiated, written complaint to the Monitoring Trustee. To file a complaint, please use the Complaint Form (Complaint Form) and send it to amazon.UK-commitments@alcis-advisers.com or per mail at:
The Network Sharing Agreements concluded between the global telecommunication group T-Mobile, infrastructure operator Cetin and O2 in the Czech Rep. raised competition concerns with the EU Commission.
The parties committed to implement remedies relating to :
ring-fencing/governance,
network modernization,
pricing
and limits to further extension of their cooperation.
Alcis has been acting as monitoring trustee to the EU Commission.
On 20 December 2022, the EU Commission approved Germany’s EUR 6.3 billion German measure to recapitalize energy group SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe, formerly “Gazprom Germania”) in the context of the war in Ukraine. The measure was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis Framework, subject to Commitments.
ALCIS is appointed as Monitoring Trustee to oversee the implementation of the Commitments (both behavioral and structural) made by Germany and SEFE in this respect.
The acquisition of AGM (A) by METRO (D) from REWE (D) raised competition concerns in the Austrian food wholesale and distribution market.
To address the Austrian competition authorities’ concerns, METRO committed to divest the AGM stores in Bludenz and Klagenfurt. Both stores were sold to local competitors.
ALCIS acted as MT to the Austrian competition authorities.
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