Antitrust and competition are high on the EU’s agenda once again, with Commissioner Margrethe Vestager placing interim relief measures on US tech giant, Broadcom – but it’s still not a major priority for in-house lawyers.

The measure has not been used in nearly 20 years, and means Broadcom must annul contractual requirements immediately, as opposed to waiting for a formal legal decision to be ratified.

Due to competition concerns, the European Commission has ordered Broadcom to stop applying certain provisions contained in agreements with six of its main customers. By applying these measures, the Commission believes that it can prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition from Broadcom’s activities.

"In the boardroom, competition policy and regulation can be deemed an unlikely risk or even a distraction," said Mathew Heim, visiting fellow at Bruegel and former vice president at Qualcomm. "This means that businesses are often surprised or unprepared...