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Annalies Muscat

Annalies Muscat is a senior associate within the competition and commercial practice of the firm. As a member of the competition group, she advises various businesses in different industries (such as manufacturing, utilities, food and beverage, entertainment, telecommunications, import and export, co-operatives) on competition issues. This includes making submissions to and representing clients in front of the Office for Competition, the Competition and Consumer Appeals Tribunal, the civil courts and regulators as well as advising on contracts and mergers and acquisitions. As a member of the commercial practice of the firm, she assists and advises clients on various contractual issues; advises clients on consumer law related matters; and also has experience of capital markets, having assisted clients with bond issues and initial public offerings and other corporate governance matters.

European Parliament, Strasbourg
Draft Guidelines on Abusive Exclusionary Conduct Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Draft Guidelines on Abusive Exclusionary Conduct

In August 2024 the European Commission published draft guidelines on the application of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”) to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. Rather than the current guidance on enforcement priorities, this document has taken the shape of guidelines proper, similar to those found in respect of Article 101 TFEU. The intention is therefore that undertakings, legal counsel and competition authorities follow the doctrine laid out in the eventual guidelines when applying Article 102 TFEU to conduct by dominant undertakings that may be exclusionary in nature. Although the draft cites…
Annalies Muscat
12th September 2024
It’s Official – Most Influencers Do Not Disclose Commercial Content Antitrust, Competition and Trade

It’s Official – Most Influencers Do Not Disclose Commercial Content

On 14 February 2024, the European Commission published the results of a screening, known as a “sweep”, of social media posts from influencers that it had carried out together with the national consumer protection authorities of 22 Member States – including Malta –as well as those in Norway and Iceland. The results are out…and perhaps they are hardly surprising. Whilst 97% of influencers were found to publish posts with commercial content, only 20% systematically disclosed these posts as advertising. 38% did not use platform labels to disclose commercial content (for instance the “paid partnership” label on Instagram) but preferred to…
Annalies Muscat
29th February 2024
Influencer Marketing: Protection for Consumers from #sponsored Posts on Social Media Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Influencer Marketing: Protection for Consumers from #sponsored Posts on Social Media

We all know how important advertising is in the business world. Traders use advertisements as marketing tools to inform customers and consumers about their products. With the rise of technology and social media, advertising is now taking diverse forms. Companies are increasingly turning to a more powerful tool, the ‘influencer’, to advertise their products. This phenomenon is also evident locally.  This article purports to analyse what constitutes influencer marketing and the protection afforded to consumers by Maltese law. What is an ‘influencer’? Maltese law does not define what an influencer is. However, the Consumer Affairs Act (the ‘Act’) defines a…
Laura Spiteri and Annalies Muscat
9th February 2024
Google Shopping: The Saga Continues Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Google Shopping: The Saga Continues

Following an antitrust investigation, in 2017 the European Commission had fined Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. a record €2.4 billion for abuse of Google’s dominant position. In brief, it found that Google was self-preferencing, by presenting results from its own Google Shopping first upon a so called “Google search”. On appeal to the General Court, the fine was confirmed in 2021. The General Court only accepted part of Google and Alphabet’s argument, namely that there was no negative anti-competitive effect on the market for general search services. Google and Alphabet further appealed the General Court’s judgment to the Court of…
Annalies Muscat
12th January 2024
Civil Court (Commercial Section) on whether a #retrial of #liquidationproceedings is possible
Consumer Claims Tribunal Can Now Hear Claims of up to €10,000 Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Consumer Claims Tribunal Can Now Hear Claims of up to €10,000

On 10 July 2023, the Maltese Parliament resolved in favour of several amendments to the Consumer Affairs Act. These amendments serve two purposes. Firstly, the Consumer Claims Tribunal can now hear consumer claims of up to €10,000. This amendment represents a significant increase in the value of the claims that can be heard by the arbiter given the previous threshold of €5,000. This means that consumers can now opt to go to the Tribunal rather than initiate Court proceedings for a greater number of cases. Secondly, provision has now been made for the use of video conferencing in Tribunal proceedings…
Annalies Muscat
14th July 2023