Europe

March 6, 2024: The Director General for Competition, Olivier Guersent, states at the OECD Competition Open Day in Paris that the European Commission is investigating four or five no-poach agreements.

November 21, 2023: The European Commission (EC) carries out unannounced inspections at premises of companies active in the online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other consumer goods. The scope of investigation covers inter alia alleged no-poach agreements, possibly linked to a previously suspected geographic non-compete.

September 22, 2023: The Director General for Competition, Olivier Guersent, states in a speech that the EC is looking at some practices that used to be less on their radar, like no-poach agreements.

June 21, 2023: It is reported that the EC is investigating whether a Qualcomm subsidiary and TDK Electronics have agreed not to poach each others employees. On 20 December 2023, it is reported that the preliminary investigation was being closed for "priority reasons".

June 13, 2023: The European Parliament adopts its annual report on competition policy, in which it welcomes the ECs willingness to take into account the effects on labor markets and wages when determining the anti-competitiveness of collusive behavior, and calls on the EC to carefully balance the potential effects on wages with the need to ensure a competitive market.

September 30, 2022: The EC introduces new Guidelines that provide clarification concerning when specific self-employed individuals can collectively negotiate working conditions without violating EU competition law.

April 2022: Maria Jaspers, the head of the ECs cartel directorate, indicates at the American Bar Association Antitrust Spring Meeting in Washington that the EC is currently looking at no-poach cases: "Although we have not pursued a [no-poach] case so far, these cases are certainly on our radar. We have a few cases that we are actively looking into and lets see what comes out of that."

October 22,2021: Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager states in her speech on "A New Era of Cartel Enforcement" that the EC will be on the lookout for non-poach and wage-fixing agreements. Margrethe Vestager states that:

• "There are markets where you can only compete if you have expensive machinery, or costly IP. And then there are those where the key to success is finding staff who have the right skills. So in these cases, a promise not to hire certain people can effectively be a promise not to innovate, or not to enter a new market."
• "[S]ome buyer cartels do have a very direct effect on individuals, as well as on competition…when they use so-called "no-poach" agreements as an indirect way to keep wages down, restricting talent from moving where it serves the economy best."

December 16, 2020: In the International Skating Union case, the General Court confirms that the eligibility rules that prohibited speed skaters from participating in competitions that were not approved by it are contrary to competition law. No fines imposed for exceptional reasons. The European Court of Justice is expected to rule on an appeal of the General Courts judgment on December 21, 2023, as well as a parallel case involving the Super Leagues attempt to set up a league to rival UEFAs Champions League and a dispute over a Belgian football club fostering homegrown talent.

July 6, 2023: The Belgian competition authority (BCA) issues a statement of objections to Securitas, G4S Secure Solutions and Seris Security, accusing them of implementing reciprocal no-poach agreements in the private security sector.

May 16, 2022: The BCA competition authority publishes a notice on enforcement priorities expressing its desire to tackle competition imbalances in labor markets. The authority will pay greater attention to enforcement of competition rules in the sports sector, focusing, among others, on no poaching agreements.

October 19, 2023: The Czech competition authority finds antitrust restrictions in the travel agencies labor market. As a result, two trade associations will withdraw recommendations regarding the use of non-compete clauses from their ethical codes. No fines imposed.

May 19, 2023: The Czech competition authority issues a paper concerning agreements on the labor market. The publication deals with anti-competitive agreements relating to wages, rewards or non-recruitment of employees.

January 16, 2024: The Danish competition authority (with the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Icelandic authorities) publish a joint Nordic report on competition and labour markets concluding that "evidence indicates it is not uncommon for companies in a range of industries to enter into agreements not to hire each other’s employees, which suggest that there could be scope for more enforcement of competition law in labour markets in the Nordic region."

January 30, 2008: The Danish competition authority concludes that a decision taken by the Trade Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks, and Cooperative Banks in Denmark (LOPI) infringes competition law. LOPI had allegedly recommended to its members that they should refrain from headhunting new labour through direct contact with the employees of other banks, and had also accused its members of a lack of collegiality by marketing new employees from other member banks.

January 16, 2024: The Finnish competition authority (FCCA) (with the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic authorities) publish a joint Nordic report on competition and labour markets concluding that "evidence indicates it is not uncommon for companies in a range of industries to enter into agreements not to hire each other’s employees, which suggest that there could be scope for more enforcement of competition law in labour markets in the Nordic region."

December 30, 2022: The Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland concludes that no-poach agreements in the healthcare sector are both unlawful and discriminatory.

January 1, 2022: The amendment to the Finnish Employment Contracts Act comes into force, introducing an obligation to pay specific compensation to employees who entered into post-employment non-competition restrictions. The remuneration for the non-competition period shall be at least 40 percent of the employee's regular salary for a duration of up to six months. The compensation will be at least 60 percent of the employee's regular salary if the non-competition period extends beyond six months.

2019: The FCCA decides that an agreement between hockey clubs of the top-tier league SM-Liiga breaches competition law. The league and its clubs had agreed inter alia not to hire players that had played for the club Jokerit (after Jokerit had moved to play in the Russian league KHL). The FCCA orders the implementation of the agreement to be terminated and imposes a conditional fine of € 75,000 per party.

November 23, 2023: The French Competition Authority (FCA) states that it has sent a statement of objections to various businesses in the engineering, technology consulting and IT service sectors alleging that they have agreed not to hire each other’s employees.

January 6, 2023: The Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, Competition and Fraud Prevention imposes €0.14 million fine on three companies for reaching non-compete and non-poach agreements in the context of a merger in the market of non-ferrous metals recycling.

May 27, 2021: The French Highest Court concludes that a clause by which a party prohibits itself from hiring, directly or indirectly, all the employees who have been employed by another party, is only lawful insofar as it is limited in time and space.

July 11, 2019: The FCA publishes guidance on assessing the impact of sector labor agreements on competition.

September 15, 2017: The French Ministry of Labor creates a working group (including officials from the FCA) to better tackle a balance between labor law, its benefits for workers and possible negative effects on competition.

October 19, 2017: The FCA fines several floor manufacturers for entering into an agreement in relation to their commercial policies, including (among others) the exchange of confidential information on salaries and bonuses of personnel. In addition, a “gentleman’s agreement” not to poach each other’s employees was in place. The fine amounts to approx. €302 million.

July 6, 2017: The Court of Appeals of Paris confirms that three professional unions of modeling agencies fixed model fees, wages and agency fees, breaching antitrust law. The fines amount to €465,000.

July 26, 2016: The German competition authority fines three television studios for exchanging competitively sensitive information, including costs of staff and other information related to the benefits of the employees. The fines amount to approx. €3.1 million.

March 4, 2022: The Hellenic competition authority imposes behavioral remedies on an elevator maintenance and installation trade association for setting minimum wages. The behavior restricts competition between its members by imposing an unlawful minimum wage-setting clause, threatening to "indefinitely" remove those members from the association if they did not comply. 

December 18, 2020: The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) fines the Association of Hungarian HR Consulting Agencies for fixing minimum fees and including a no-poaching clause with respect to the recruitment services provided by its members for a period of seven years. The fine amounts to approx. €2.85 million.

March 20, 2023: The Italian Courts confirm AGCM's decision finding that Radiotaxi breached competition law by preventing member drivers from using other intermediaries. The fine amounted to €21,000.

June 14, 2022: Taxi Turin removes a non-compete clause that discriminated against drivers who did not abide by the rules and it escapes a fine. The non-compete clause hindered drivers from using services of rival platforms.

September 15, 2020: The AGCM fines four Naples taxi operators for foreclosure of open platforms. The agreement includes an exclusivity clause where drivers are prohibited from using other apps. The fines amounted to approx. €17,000.

October 26, 2016: The AGCM fines eight fashion-modeling agencies and the industry association for participating in a cartel concerning price-fixing. The agencies coordinated prices relating to salaries, image rights, agency commission and model transfer costs between 2007 and 2015. The fines amount to approx. €4.5 million.

June 23, 2023: The Lithuanian competition authority (KT) publishes its Guidance on anti-competitive agreements in labor markets. The guidance indicates that no-poach and similar agreements may have harmful effects not only on consumers and the competition landscape itself, but also on workers' "position and working conditions (…) such as their ability to find and hold a job that suits their interests and abilities, and to obtain a wage that satisfies them."

December 29, 2022: The KT fines the Lithuanian Association of Real Estate Agencies and its 39 members for agreeing not to solicit each other's clients and brokers. The fine amounts to approx. €0.97 million.

November 18, 2021: The KT fines the nation's basketball league and clubs for entering into an anti-competitive agreement regarding the conditions for the payment of players' salaries. After the termination of the 2019-2020 basketball championship, they decided not to pay basketball players salaries or other financial remuneration for the rest of the season. The fines amount to approx. €40,000.

February 7, 2023: The Dutch competition authority (ACM) updates its guidelines on price arrangements between self-employed workers, allowing certain collective arrangements without breaching competition rules.

February 16, 2022: The ACM warns employers that non-hiring arrangements are prohibited after receiving multiple reports about possible anticompetitive arrangements in the Dutch labor market.

November 26, 2021: The ACM suspends investigation into a possible wage-fixing supermarket cartel because employers and employees have agreed on a new collective agreement. The ACM detected that several supermarkets made arrangements regarding limited wage increase of 2.5 percent for their employees.

November 26, 2019: The ACM issues guidelines on price arrangements between self-employed workers explaining what type of arrangements they are allowed to make regarding rates.

June 6, 2023: The Polish competition authority (UOKiK) fines the Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Federation and Ekstraliga Żużlowa for unlawfully capping the salaries of speedway racers. The fines amount to €1.2 million.

October 25, 2022: The UOKiK fines 16 clubs and the Polish Basketball League for agreeing not to pay the players all the salaries due for the season 2019/2020, which terminated their labor contracts earlier than agreed, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fines amount to €0.2 million.

May 25, 2022: The UOKiK opens an infringement procedure against the Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Federation and PGE Ekstraliga for establishing salary caps of speedway racers.

April 5, 2024: As part of a settlement agreement, the Portuguese competition authority ("AdC") fines a large technology company € 278,000 for entering into no-poach agreements. In the same investigation, the ADC has already fined two multinational companies € 1,323,000 and € 2,481,000 respectively (reduced fines as a result of settlement and leniency). 

December 15, 2022: The ADC issues a Statement of Objections to laboratories and business association for alleged anticompetitive behavior related to clinical analysis (including COVID tests), which took the form of a no-poach agreement by committing not to bind/hire workers from competing laboratory groups.

April 28, 2022: The AdC fines 31 sport clubs, along with the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP), for participating in a no-poach agreement that prevented the clubs from hiring football players who had independently ended their employment contracts. The fines amount to €11.3 million. It has been reported that a Portuguese tribunal has sought guidance under a preliminary ruling request from the European Court of Justice regarding whether the no-poach agreement constitutes a restriction of competition "by object". 

September 2021: The AdC publishes its labor market agreements and competition policy paper addressing the legal framework and the precedent decisions regarding no-poach and wage-fixing agreements and their effects on the conditions of competition in the labor market.

June 2020: The AdC issues a recommendation to the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), advising them to avoid implementing a salary cap for each team participating in the Women's League.

January 2022: The Competition Council of Romania investigates an alleged cartel involving seven automotive engineering and technology providers in the skilled/specialized labor force market for motor vehicle production and related activities. The authority suspects that the companies imposed a no-poach on each other's labor force, which led to the maintenance of the level of salaries below the market level.

February 2024: It is reported that the Spanish competition authority ("CNMC") is revisiting concentrations that have already been cleared to investigate the impact of non-compete and no-poach clauses: (i) whose scope did not benefit from the merger control approval’s safe harbour, and/or (ii) that have stopped being ancillary to the underlying concentration after a specific time period (typically two or three years). As part of this monitoring effort, the CNMC is sending requests for information to recently merged entities.

September 27, 2023: The Catalan competition authority ("ACCO") fines the Association of Independent Private Schools of Catalonia for entering into a no-poach agreement. Private education companies that form part of the Association allegedly could not contact or recruit each other’s employees (teaching staff) without prior consent. The fine amounts to €75,500.

August 1, 2023: The Catalan competition authority fines the association Elite Taxi for boycotting Uber and other platforms in Barcelona. Among others, Elite issued guidelines on how its members should carry out the boycott and coercion actions against the targeted taxi drivers using Uber or other platforms. The fine amounts to €122,910.

May 26, 2022: The CNMC fines the Royal Canine Society of Spain for, among other practices, prohibiting its judges from engaging in competitors’ events. The fine amounts to approx. €142,000.

December 5, 2022: The Swiss competition authority investigates the labor market in the banking sector, as it suspects that several banks in Switzerland are exchanging information on the salaries of different categories of their employees.

October 19, 2023: The Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) initiates an antitrust investigation against ready-mixed concrete producers operating in Ankara for allegedly restricting competition in the labor market.

July 26, 2023: The TCA fines 16 undertakings, including Vodafone Turkey, for concluding no-poach agreements. The conduct concerned agreements not to hire each other’s employees or to limit the mobility of employees. These agreements were bilateral, and the infringement period varied across companies ranging from less than a year to more than five years. The fines amount to approx. €5 million in total.

May 1, 2022: The TCA opens an antitrust investigation into seven software companies for entering into no-poach agreements.

February 24, 2022: The TCA fines 16 private health hospitals for wage-fixing and no-poaching practices, blocking the transfer of each other’s employees. The fines amount to approx. €5.4 million. 

January 2, 2020: The TCA obliges 47 container transportation companies to stop fixing the wages of the truck drivers. No fines imposed.

February 7, 2019: The TCA obliges BFIT, active in the gym services market, to stop imposing non-compete and no-poaching obligations in its franchising agreements. No fines imposed.

January 25, 2024: The UK competition authority ("CMA") publishes a research report on competition and market power in labour markets. The Report examines employer market power and labour market concentration, the prevalence of restrictive covenants (including non-compete clauses), as well as changes in the labour market, including hybrid and flexible working and the gig economy, which features an increased amount of temporary positions and freelance work. The CMA is planning to use the findings to inform its current increasing scrutiny of potentially anti-competitive conduct in labour markets, as well as broader government and policy thinking. 

January 17, 2024: It is reported that the CMA has expanded a cartel investigation in the fragrances sector to investigate "reciprocal arrangements relating to the hiring or recruitment of certain staff" 

May 10, 2023: The UK government announces plans to limit the length of non-compete restrictions to three months. Limiting non-compete clauses will not interfere with the ability of employers to use (paid) notice periods or gardening leave, or to use non-solicitation clauses. These reforms will not cut across arrangements on confidentiality clauses, nor will they affect restrictions on (former) public sector employees under the business appointment rules.

February 9, 2023: The CMA publishes new Guidance materials focused on companies’ legal obligations to avoid collusion in terms of employee remuneration, working conditions and recruitment.

July 12, 2022: The CMA opens a wage-fixing cartel probe into several broadcasters for fixing the wages offered to technical staff, such as camera operators or sound engineers. On April 6, 2023, the CMA expands the investigation to include additional parties.

December 2016: The CMA fines five model agencies and their trade association for entering into anticompetitive agreements involving the fixing of model fees or wages and agency fees. The fines amount to €1.82 million.