Since 2020, our antitrust/competition practice has expanded the Dechert Antitrust Merger Investigation Timing Tracker (DAMITT) to include Germany and France. This supplements DAMITT’s U.S. and EU coverage with comprehensive...more
On July 6, 2023, the German parliament adopted the “Competition Enforcement Act.” The new law still lacks final approval by the Bundesrat, which will not be granted before the end of September, but this is only a formality....more
For the second time, our antitrust/competition practice has expanded the Dechert Antitrust Merger Investigation Timing Tracker (DAMITT) to include Germany and France. This supplements DAMITT’s U.S. and EU coverage with...more
On July 29, 2020, the German Monopolies Commission published its 2020 biennial Report on Competition (Hauptgutachten XXIII: Wettbewerb 2020) under Section 44(1) Act against Restraints of Competition (“GWB”). ...more
Six key takeaways for COVID-19 Restructurings and Antitrust - The COVID-19 crisis has led, and will continue to lead, to enterprise-threatening financial difficulties for many firms in many industries. In a worst-case...more
USA als Vorreiter und Vorwirkung für Unternehmen in Deutschland - Für das US-Kartellrecht kann diese Frage neuerdings mit einem klaren Ja beantwortet werden. Ein „effektives“ Kartellrechts-Compliance-Programm kann in den...more
With its judgment of 4 June 2019 on best-price clauses, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht, “OLG”) annulled the deviating decision of the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, “FCO”). ...more
The Situation: An investigation launched in 2016 by the German competition authority was meant to determine if Facebook was abusing its market position with its imposition of "misleading" data protection policies. The...more
The German antitrust authority (FCO) has ordered Facebook to stop collecting data outside Facebook’s platform without the user’s “voluntary consent.” The decision breaks new ground because it links data protection and...more
The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has opened abuse proceedings against Amazon for practices related to the German marketplace amazon.de. ...more
On 4 December 2017, the Bundeskartellamt (German Federal Cartel Office — FCO) announced it had banned CTS Eventim from having exclusive agreements with its promoter and box office partners. Based in Munich, CTS Eventim is...more
European Court of Justice questions validity of commitments procedure under EU competition law - On 23 November 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) surprised many competition law commentators, when it...more
The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt or "FCO") has published guidance on the requirements placed on remedies in merger control and their implementation. Remedies are an important instrument in merger control...more
On May 10, 2016, the French Competition Authority and German Federal Cartel Office published “Competition Law and Data,” a joint report on big data and its implications for competition law. The paper identifies issues that...more
The German Federal Cartel Office (the FCO) has announced that it has initiated proceedings against Facebook for the company’s alleged abuse of its dominant position in a market for social networks. The FCO appears to...more