Profile: John Boyce

Competition

Biography: Competition

John Boyce studied at King's College London and at Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). He joined Slaughter and May in 1985 and became a partner in 1994. He is based in Brussels.

Since the adoption of the ECMR in 1989 he has regularly been involved in the notification of deals to the European Commission for a broad range of clients. Recent phase II clearances include acting for Cargill on its acquisition of Degussa Food Ingredients, and for Bertelsmann on its recorded music joint venture with Sony (currently subject to appeal before the European Court of Justice). He has also advised on several cases where the parties have been able to secure phase I clearances by offering commitments (such as Linde/BOC and Procter & Gamble/Gillette), as well as cases where the parties have successfully used the article 4(4) and 4(5) pre-notification procedures (introduced in 2004).

He has also acted in many UK merger and behavioural inquiries before the Competition Commission (as well as the OFT). Industry inquiries and cartel investigations he has advised on have covered a wide range of industries, from chemicals and consumer goods to financial services.

His practice also involves contentious work, including national court proceedings as well as pending cartel investigations by the European Commission. His experience before the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg includes successful appeals in state aid and cartel cases and in parallel trade matters.

John is fluent in French.