On 21 September 2016, the German Government has introduced a formal legislative proposal (Gesetzesvorschlag - "Government Proposal") for the reform of the Act against Restraint of Competition ("ARC…
The German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) terminated antitrust proceedings against toy manufacturer Lego on July 18, 2016, following Lego’s agreement to change its current rebate system. Lego will…
With little fanfare, on Friday, 1 July 2016, among a raft of other amendments to the Act against Restraint of Competition (‘ARC’; 9th amendment), the Federal Ministry of Economics proposed a far…
On Friday, 1 July 2016, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs finally published its draft law implementing the European Union directive governing actions for damages for infringements of…
The FCO has ended the year 2015 with quite a bang when it prohibited internet hotel portal booking.com to continue to use its “narrow” best-price clauses on December 23, 2015. The decision includes…
On November 18, 2015, the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal quashed the decision of the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) that supermarket chain Edeka had abused its market power vis-à-vis suppliers by…
On October 1, 2015, the FCO published a paper entitled “Digital economy – internet platforms between competition law, privacy and consumer protection” on the occasion of a conference of the working…
On December 23, 2103, the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published an explanatory note on settlement proceedings in antitrust cases on its website. Since 2007, the FCO has increasingly terminated…
The FCO published new fining guidelines on June 25, 2013, which have been applied for several months now. However, the guidelines as well as the recent practice do not provide a lot of guidance.
The…
On January 18, 2012, the district court of Bonn ruled on the scope of access to file for third parties in a cartel case under German law. The court rejected the claim insofar as it concerned access…
