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Author: Gast

If I had a broadaxe….

If I had a broadaxe….

PDF-Version: Click here Suggested Citation: Klumpe, DKartJ 2023, 89-91 In Düsseldorf, the association of competition lawyers called “Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht” held a meeting to discuss litigation on cartel damages. Dr. Gerhard Klumpe, one of the most prolific German antitrust judges, was on the panel. Here he gives his impressions of the evening. Say, a lawyer, a competition economist and a judge meet at a bar table… when a story begins like this, we are either in for a good laugh or –…

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Conference Debriefing (36): ASCOLA 2023

Conference Debriefing (36): ASCOLA 2023

PDF version: Click here Suggested Citation: Bostoen/Karg/Thepot, DKartJ 2023, 61 ASCOLA is the Academic Society for Competition Law, the global organization that brings together scholars from all over the world once a year. This year, antitrust professors and their future successors met in Athens (Greece) for the three days Olympics of Competition Law Scholarship. Herbert Hovenkamp was there – and so were Friso Bostoen (Tilburg), Madlen Karg (TU Munich) and Florence Thepot (Strasbourg). The three youngish scholars share their insights and photos here in this…

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Discourse in Parliament: German Parties & Big Tech

Discourse in Parliament: German Parties & Big Tech

PDF Version: Click here Suggested Citation: Renz/Kuhlmann/Frenken/Walter, DKartJ 2023, 43 On 26 May 2023, competition law was once again a topic in the German Bundestag: The Parliament held the first reading of the planned reform of the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB). The Bundeskartellamt, the national competition agency, is to receive extended powers – we reported. This upcoming 11th amendment is an occasion to look back at the last debates in parliament. Four students of Heinrich Heine University have…

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The 11th Amendment to the ARC and Germany’s New Competition Tool

The 11th Amendment to the ARC and Germany’s New Competition Tool

PDF-Version: Click here Suggested Citation: Wagner-von Papp, DKartJ 2023, 22-33 On 5 April 2023, the German government, represented by Robert Habeck (Vice Chancellor and Minister for the Economy and Climate Protection, The Greens) and Marco Buschmann (Minister for Justice, Liberal Democrats (FDP)) unveiled the Government Bill (RegE in German) to reform the Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) in a press conference [in German, but subtitles can be auto-translated]. In the press conference, Vice Chancellor Habeck called the reform the…

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A lot to digest, and more to come!

A lot to digest, and more to come!

PDF Version: Click here Suggested Citation: Olthoff/Lübbig, DKartJ 2023, 5-7 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…

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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

PDF Version: Click here Suggested Citation: Heuer/Woeste, DKartJ 2023, 3-5 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…

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

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

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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“Cartel damages proceedings run too long in Germany!”

“Cartel damages proceedings run too long in Germany!”

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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AGENDA 2025: More Sustainability in Merger Control?

AGENDA 2025: More Sustainability in Merger Control?

This article is part of the D’Kart Spotlights: AGENDA 2025, in which experts from academia and practice comment on aspects of the Competition Policy Agenda presented by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The contributions already published can be found here. Merger control is often not dealt with at all or only as a marginal issue in the sustainability debate in antitrust law. In this article, Johanna Welsch takes a look at this part of the BMWK’s…

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AGENDA 2025: A Small Group Of Thoughtful Consumers Can Change The World?

AGENDA 2025: A Small Group Of Thoughtful Consumers Can Change The World?

This article is part of the D’Kart Spotlights: AGENDA 2025, in which experts from academia and practice comment on aspects of the Competition Policy Agenda presented by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The contributions already published can be found here. This contribution to the D-Kart Spotlights: AGENDA 2025 is again concerned with the hot topic of sustainability agreements. Mariya Serafimova takes a look at the developments in the european antitrust community. With the rise of the…

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