Half of the 2022 has already passed. So Christmas is practically just around the corner. Well, maybe not just, but before everyone leaves for their summer holidays, let’s take a brief look back & ahead. In Germany, lecture periods in Summer term are now ending, hopefully, Corona is, too, and for September we have exciting events in stock at our Institute!

Düsseldorf open seminar for doctoral candidates in competition law

On 5 and 6 September 2022, doctoral students of all countries, unite! The 5th Open Düsseldorf PhD Seminar in Competition Law is coming up. The Institute for Competition Law (IKartR) invites doctoral candidates in antitrust law & policy and other younger scholars interested in competition matters to the “Haus der Universität” in Düsseldorf’s city centre. There will again be expert lectures (this year for instance by Judge Poling-Fleuß from the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, and Professor Paul Heidhues, an outstanding economist), PhD students will present their theses, a fireside chat (as always with a digital fireplace) and a case study with distinguished members of the Düsseldorf bar. It’s an excellent opportunity for young academics to exchange ideas and network. For those who have no idea what this is all about, we recommend the reports on the first, second, third and fourth Düsseldorf open seminars here on D’Kart. The one thing you should know: All this is in German, so if you are not able to speak & understand German, this is simply not the fun.

Those interested can still register until 15 August 2022. All further information on the doctoral seminar is available on the homepage of the IKartR.

The Diss List

By the way, our list of dissertations on competition law provides an overview of the large number of dissertations on antitrust published in recent years. We can only recommend that you browse through it. Again, this covers German books that were written to get a “Doktortitel”. It is fascinating to see what a wide range of topics is represented. If we are still missing your, please let us know!

73rd German Jurists’ Conference in Bonn with Rupprecht Podszun as reviewer

Shortly after our doctoral seminar, the 73rd German Jurists’ Conference will finally (!) take place. The conference is organised by Deutscher Juristentag (DJT), a very traditional association that organises the big get-together of lawyers every other year (so you do the maths when it was the first time, now that it is the 73rd edition).

This year, the economic law section of the DJT decided to put the question on the table how online platforms should be regulated. Our Institute’s director Rupprecht Podszun was commissioned to write the key opinion on this. His ideas and proposals will be discussed by Prof. Dr. Konrad Ost (Bundeskartellamt), Prof. Dr. Heike Schweitzer (HU Berlin) and Rebekka Weiß (of business association Bitkom) on the panel in Bonn. The DJT will take place from 21-23 September 2022. At the end, members vote on proposals prepared by the panel. Anyone who wants to join the discussion is cordially invited. Rupprecht Podszun’s opinion had already been published by Beck-Verlag in 2020 – at that time, the Conference had to be postponed due to the pandemic. A supplementary update has just been published.

A tougher German competition law

The next amendment of the German competition act is drawing ever closer. The relevant topics have already been announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) in the “Competition Policy Agenda 2025”. In our spotlights you can already read the comments, suggestions and constructive criticism from the antitrust community (in English and German!). An important point of the agenda is the transformation of the economy with regard to the climate crisis. So is antitrust law becoming greener? This is what the Future Group “Competition and Sustainability” of our Heinrich Heine University is dealing with. Some of our Institute’s members are heavily involved and are supporting the BMWK with an expert opinion on this very topic.

However, German competition law could become much tougher sooner than expected. About a month ago, Minister Robert Habeck announced three changes that he plans to implement soon:

1. unbundling independent of abuse,

2. lower hurdles for skimming off profits and

3. powerful sector investigations.

The proposals, while in the pipeline ever since the new government took office, was propelled into mainstream by the discussion on fuel prices. Institute Director Christian Kersting commented on this in an interview with Deutschlandfunk, Rupprecht Podszun spoke about it with LTO and TAZ and Tristan Rohner with Deutschlandfunk Nova. Kersting already discussed the subject of unbundling in 2010.

Finally: Holiday reading from the IKartR

If you go on holidays and sit on the beach / take a rest from that hike / sit in cafe while your partner is doing a city tour / wait in the park for the sun to set down or if you are stuck at airports and train stations you definitely need a read. Here (quite altruistically) is a brief overview of (other) recent publications by members of our Institute:

• Hauser/Otto, Legal nature of cartel damages claims in the EU (2022) 43 E.C.L.R. 2-12 und (2021) G.C.L.R. 147-157. 
• Hauser/Otto, Normative Corrections of Causation in Fact in Cartel Damages Law, [2022] 15 G.C.L.R., 47-58.
• Hauser/Otto [gemeinsam mit Vande Walle], Private enforcement of competition law in Germany and the Netherlands, verfügbar auf SSRN. 
• Kersting, Reform des Kartellschadensersatzrechts, NZKart 2022, 309-314.
• Kersting/Otto, Die Haftung der wirtschaftlichen Einheit zugleich Anmerkung zum Urteil des EuGH in Sachen Sumal, Teil 1 NZKart 2021, 651-659 und Teil 2 NZKart 2022, 14-19; übersetzte, überarbeitete und aktualisierte Fassung verfügbar auf SSRN. 
• Otto, Managerhaftung auf Kartellschadensersatz, Deliktische Organ- und Mitarbeiteraußenhaftung zwischen Zivil- und Strafrecht, ZWeR 2022, 125-155.
• Podszun, Kompensation von Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen im Rahmen von Art. 101 Abs. 1 AEUV, NZKart 2022, 181-187.
• Podszun/Offergeld, Plattformregulierung im Zivilrecht zwischen Wissenschaft und Gesetzgebung: Die ELI Model Rules on Online Platforms, ZEuP 2022, 244-272.
• Podszun/Pfeifer, Datenzugang nach dem EU Data Act: Der Entwurf der Europäischen Kommission, GRUR 2022, 953-961.

Have a great summer! Do not forget to subscribe to www.d-kart.de and see you soon!