The Blue Wall: Competition and Sustainability in Berlin

The Blue Wall: Competition and Sustainability in Berlin

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Are companies allowed to collude with other companies to jointly reduce CO2 emissions? Hardly any other question has been discussed more often at antitrust conferences across the country in recent years. This is also due to the fact that the first green-led Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection in Germany has named sustainability as a key topic in its Competition Law Agenda 2025. Researchers at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf have now presented a comprehensive report for the…

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Conference Debriefing (35): FIW Symposium Innsbruck

Conference Debriefing (35): FIW Symposium Innsbruck

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  Those who are not part of the antitrust family in the DACH region will certainly associate the Tyrolean capital Innsbruck primarily with the Alps and winter sports and perhaps also think of the fantastic adventures of the spaceship Orion, whose protagonist, Major Cliff Allister McLane, was impersonated by actor Dietmar Schönherr, one of the prominent sons of the city of Innsbruck. Friends of antitrust law and competition economics, on the other hand, immediately think of the annual symposium of…

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A lot to digest, and more to come!

A lot to digest, and more to come!

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On 6 February 2023 the European Commission released a draft notification form as part of the draft Implementation Regulation to the FSR (EU Regulation 2022/2560 of 14 December 2022 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market). This reminded Merit Olthoff and Thomas Lübbig of lines from a famous German poem: “Spirits that I’ve cited – my commands ignore.” – These lines from a famous poem will certainly be well known to German-speaking readers of this blog. And the fortunate translation provided by Edwin Zeydel…

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Dirty laundry in the working group – cleaning instructions from the Federal Court of Justice to the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court

Dirty laundry in the working group – cleaning instructions from the Federal Court of Justice to the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court

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Shortly before Christmas, the Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) passed judgement on the follow-on lawsuit regarding the so-called “drugstore products cartel”. It had been eagerly awaited not only by the antitrust world but also by the creditors of the insolvent drugstore chain Anton Schlecker e.K. In the ruling, the FCJ expressly clarifies that in the event of an anti-competitive information exchange on price behavior, there is a factual presumption that such information exchange caused damage. Meanwhile, the grounds of the…

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On our own account: Antitrust Law at the “Zeitenwende”

On our own account: Antitrust Law at the “Zeitenwende”

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In Germany, anthologies with current essays on competition law are about as frequent as fines in abuse proceedings under the German competition act: they hardly ever happen. There are commemorative publications, the infamous German “Festschrift”, yes, but for one of those someone has to have a birthday. With no birthday around, I have something special to announce to you today: We proudly present  “Antitrust Law at the Zeitenwende – On the Way to the 11th and 12th Amendments to the…

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Conference Debriefing (34): Working (!) Session of the Studienvereinigung

Conference Debriefing (34): Working (!) Session of the Studienvereinigung

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On 8 December, the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht, the legendary group of German-speaking competition lawyers, met for its working session in Bonn. This year, the traditional meet-and-greet with prominent figures from the nearby Federal Cartel Office and also from far away Berlin was dominated by the German reform projects. Dr. Sascha Dethof reports. “Working session”, “there is work to be done today”, “this will be a real working session” – Chairman Ingo Brinker (Gleiss Lutz) made it clear in his introduction that he expected…

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The Antitrust Advent Calendar 2022

The Antitrust Advent Calendar 2022

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Friends & folks around the globe, it is this time of the year again! In the past years, it became a tradition of this blog to use the run-up to Christmas Eve for – what we call – “Adventskalender”. Every day in December up to the 24th, we have a new treat for you in this blog, a little special gift for you, our beloved readers. It is the #AntitrustAdventCalendar! This year, we take you to a photo tour of…

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Conference Debriefing (33): Das C-L-F in Düsseldorf

Conference Debriefing (33): Das C-L-F in Düsseldorf

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Stehen öffentliche und private Kartellrechtsdurchsetzung zueinander in einem Spannungsverhältnis und falls ja, wie lässt sich dieses auflösen? Das war die Fragestellung, zu der das Competition Litigation Forum e.V. gemeinsam mit dem Institut für Kartellrecht unter dem Rubrum „Kronzeugenprogramm ./. Private Enforcement“ in die Hauptstadt des Kartellrechts nach Düsseldorf ins Haus der Universität einlud. Severin Stratmann berichtet. Zwei Protagonisten Als Protagonisten traten in dem, mit über 80 Personen gut gefüllten, großen Saal der Präsident des Bundeskartellamts Andreas Mundt und Prof. Dr. Christian Kersting von der Universität Düsseldorf auf…

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“Cartel damages proceedings run too long in Germany!”

“Cartel damages proceedings run too long in Germany!”

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Those who follow cartel damages proceedings in German courts are sometimes stunned: Do these proceedings really have to take so long? Does every detail really have to be questioned in such a way? Prof. Dr. Johannes Heyers says: Things are being artificially complicated here – with first instance courts and the legal profession taking a fair share of blame. A wake-up call. The plea that antitrust damages proceedings “run too long in Germany” (as Tilman Makatsch rightly put it in…

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Spotlight off: A review and outlook on AGENDA 2025

Spotlight off: A review and outlook on AGENDA 2025

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After five months and nearly 20 contributions from academia and practitioners in our series D’Kart Spotlights: AGENDA 2025, we turn off the spotlight. The occasion for this spotlight project was the AGENDA 2025, with which the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) presented an outline for the reform of antitrust law. The draft bill for the Competition Enforcement Act – (11th amendment of the law against restraints on competition (GWB) – was published yesterday. In addition to…

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