PDF version: Click here Suggested Citation: Podszun, DKartJ 2023, 54 Such a mass of competition law developments on a single day is rare: Germany is getting the “New Competition Tool”, i.e. an amendment to its competition act, the ECJ has ruled in the matter of the Federal Cartel Office vs Facebook, and the companies that see themselves as digital gatekeepers in the sense of the Digital Markets Act have reported to the European Commission. Whew. On the Fourth of July…
PDF Version: Click here Suggested Citation: Podszun, DKartJ 2023, 18-21. 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 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…
It is this time of the year when antitrust folks from around the world flood the airports and cause major disruptions in air travel. The reason is: They are all on the move to the next most exciting conference. Rupprecht Podszun attended #ASCOLA2022, the Annual Conference of the Academic Society for Competition Law that took place as an in-person event in Porto, Portugal. He answers the main questions in this Conference Debriefing! Name of event: 17th Annual Conference of ASCOLA (Academic Society for…
It was the World Festival of Competition Law: Representatives of competition agencies came together in Berlin to celebrate two consecutive conferences: The traditional Bundeskartellamt’s International Cartel Conference (IKK) and the Annual Meeting of the International Competition Network (ICN). Most everyone was there, and so was Rupprecht Podszun who gives his Conference Debriefing here. Name of Event: XXI. Internationale Kartellkonferenz & 21st ICN Annual Conference Topic: “We are family!” – Okay, that was not the official topic, but it had a…
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. The Competition Policy Agenda of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action begins with a great sentence, a reference to „Ordnungspolitik” [regulatory policy], the German ordoliberal style of economic policy. Rupprecht Podszun consulted Walter Eucken again on…
Finally. The Digital Markets Act #DMA is here! Rupprecht Podszun has not yet seen the little sister of EU antitrust law, but he has seen the rather proud parents at the press conference. Plus, he has comments on the war in Ukraine and courts doing their job well or not so well. Here are his SSNIPpets – small but significant news, information and pleasantries – our pet project! On the war In other times, this would have been big news:…
Trilogue negotiations at Brussels on the Digital Markets Act are coming to an end, or so we believe – a final compromise is expected at the end of this month. While waiting for words to dissect, scholars from France and Germany met in Aix-en-Provence to discuss “The DMA, Inside and Beyond”. Rupprecht Podszun, who currently serves as a Visiting Professor at the largest law faculty of the French speaking world (that is l’Université Aix-Marseille) gives us the details in…
There is a lot to catch up on before the new year really gets going. Rupprecht Podszun, however, has once again only written down very subjectively what he came across in the last few weeks. Today it’s about Section 19a of the German Competition Act, the Digital Markets Act, big law firms, thin and thick books, personnel matters and access to data. Enjoy the first 2022-SSNIPpets – small but significant news, information and pleasantries – our pet project! Alphabet is…
Indeed, dear readers, there are a lot of news out there: The European Court supports the Commission in its quest against Google. The UK CMA tells Facebook to sell Giphy. The Bundeskartellamt, in a quite different dimension, opposed the acquisition of “Ostthüringer Zeitung”, a regional newspaper in the Gera/Jena area (while we are waiting for the first section 19a-decisions). The new German “traffic lights coalition” has ambitious plans for EU and German competition law reform, now under the direction of…