EU: Antitrust issues in labour markets

European Commission publishes new competition policy brief dealing with Antitrust in Labour Markets. It focuses on no-poach agreements and wage fixing.

Key points: 

(1) Wage-fixing and no-poach agreements typically fall under the category of restrictions by object as defined in Article 101(1) TFEU. That means that these agreements are inherently harmful to the functioning of competition. 

(2) No-poach and wage-fixing agreements might be considered ancillary restraints but only under very stringent conditions. 

(3) Wage-fixing and no-poach agreements are unlikely to be exempted under Article 101(3) TFEU, i.e. these types of agreements are not considered to meet 4 cumulative conditions under Article 101(3) TFEU.

Bottom line: EU labour markers are still primarily national which means it is up to national competition authorities to decide when and if to take action. But notes like this send a strong signal to national authorities about what they should be looking at.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

EU competition policy brief

Hogan Lovell article