Do you feel it, too? Somehow you had imagined being able to work from home one day, and you thought that must be brilliant… But then you started to find out what that means: You need to do your Hamsterkauf, your children scurry around your desk and that one essential document has been left at the office. The biggest challenge, however, in our humble opinion, is a different one: We miss the direct contact with our beloved colleagues from the…
By Dr Andreas Schwab, MEP European champions and a relaxation of competition law are again being discussed in Brussels. Manfred Weber and Esther de Lange from the EPP group in the European Parliament have sent a letter to Commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton, published by Politico here. D’Kart asked Dr Andreas Schwab for a statement – he is a colleague from the same group as the authors of the letter and a competition lawyer who is well versed in…
The German competition law reform sparks a lot of interest on the international stage. We have a new translation into English of the draft bill! It does not only contain new provisions on abusive practices (including an interesting rule for companies with paramount significance for competition across markets). It also proposes notification thresholds for merger control – relevant for everyone who wishes to get a deal through. Today, D’Kart is able to provide a brand new, fresh translation of key…
If the D’Kart newsletter comes exceptionally on a pre-Christmas Sunday, it’s for a good reason. To wish you a pleasant Sunday, to remind you of looking at the entries in the 2019 Antitrust Advent Calendar and for the purpose of literary criticism: a very well-known colleague has published a novel (in German), and you rightly want to know what it is like on the day of publication. Rupprecht Podszun read it for you. And since you are not going to…
Another exciting year for competition law! To review 2019, D’Kart asked personalities from the antitrust community to answer one question: “Looking back to the competition law year 2019 – what is most remarkable in your view?” This time, however, differing from our approach in 2018 and 2017, we decided to listen to the young generation of competition law folks: Men and women from our community who have already started their careers but who – probably – have not yet reached…
Today, D’Kart documents the draft bill of the German competition act, the Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (GWB). As a small service for our loyal readers, we have also compiled a consolidated version of particularly important rules in German and English. D’Kart publishes the version of the draft of 7 October 2019, 18:14 – both documents, the draft bill as well as the partial version with consolidation and translation are of course provided without any guarantee. The occasion: ECN+ The draft bill…
The proposals to change European merger control, in particular with a view to paving the way for national and European champions, keep irritating the competition law community. This week, the Financial Times published an Open Letter signed by 92 practitioners from law firms and economic consultancies and academics. D’Kart documents this contribution to the debate – with thanks to Vanessa Turner who started the initiative. The recent Franco-German proposals to potentially soften and/or politicize competition enforcement in the EU continue…
The Antitrust Spring Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) is often seen as the most important meeting of antitrust lawyers – even though it happens to take place in a jurisdiction that is not really at the forefront of enforcement at present. This time, the ABA meeting took place for the 67th time and it again drew a wow-crowd to Washington D.C. D’Kart asked nine distinguished participants for their “key take-away message” in one sentence. Well, since there was…
A few days ago, German media surprised us with the fact that they had found something in a somewhat older edition of the Federal Gazette. An interesting discovery had been made: another application for ministerial approval had been submitted to the Ministry of Economics. This instrument of German antitrust law allows the Federal Minister of Economics to override a decision of the competition agency (Bundeskartellamt) on reasons of the common good. This is exciting for every antitrust lawyer, especially for…
The European Court of Justice’s judgment in Skansa was anticipated with excitement. This damage claim case has the potential to change European competition law – since it deals with the question whether the definition of undertaking is the same for damage claims as for fining. Patrick Hauser and Jörn Kramer report on one of the top cases in 2019. Introduction The Skanska decision has been highly anticipated, as it has/had the potential to shape antitrust tort law to a considerable…