The following is a selection of some important developments in German competition law and policy in 2022. It covers cases under the new rules for digital companies, abuse of dominance, merger…
The German Federal Ministry for Economics and Climate Action published the draft for the 11th amendment of the Competition Act (GWB) on the 6th of April, following the same path towards the DMA’s…
On 5 January 2023, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) published an important judgment in relation to follow-on damage actions relating to the so-called German drugstore…
Last 23 December 2022, the Bundeskartellamt, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), sent a statement of objections (SOO) to Google regarding its data processing terms. This SOO follows the Bundeskartellamt…
The wheels of the German competition authority’s enforcement of its dedicated rules on digital markets have started to turn (on the technical and substantive aspects of Section 19a GWB, see previous…
New Cooperation Agreement
On November 1, 2022, Switzerland and Germany signed an administrative agreement on cooperation between their competition authorities ("Agreement"). The Agreement is expected…
The collective private antitrust cases in the so-called timber cartel keep many German courts busy. At the beginning of the year, the Stuttgart Regional Court rejected any claims for cartel damages…
Background
More than 13 years ago, speed skater Claudia Pechstein had an abnormal blood sample, which she had to give as part of a doping control. She was subsequently banned in 2009 by the…
The following is a selection of some of the most important developments in German competition law and policy in 2021. It has been a busy year for the Federal Cartel Office ("FCO"), inter alia…
In January 2021, the latest reform of the German competition law (“ARC”) entered into force, including significant new rules regarding digital platform markets. These include new powers for the…