At the end of the year, the legislators have mercy with the competition law community: The EU Commission published the draft for the Digital Markets Act right in time to take it into the Christmas break. The German Parliament left the stage to the lawmakers in Brussels and did not pass the 10th amendment of the German competition act. The MPs seem to hesitate. Dr. Thomas Lübbig and Ole Schley take a closer look. 2020 was a year in which…
Today, the EU Commission wants to present the plans for the Digital Markets Act, which will give antitrust law completely new instruments – but which must not then be assigned to antitrust law. At the same time, this week the German competition law amendment will be passed in Parliament (or so we expect). And we also have a nice and spicy message on the German Facebook proceedings. Rupprecht Podszun reports. Post Scriptum (16 Dec 2020): The German Parliament will not…
In the antitrust community, the term “Phase II” has so far triggered thoughts about merger control: This is where Phase II is rather frightening. Today, “Phase II” gets a new meaning, even with competition folks – it is the gradual reopening of public life after the shutdown. Rupprecht Podszun is in his SSNIPpets phase. Here are his small but significant news, information and pleasantries – our pet project! Stop the clock Since we had collectively been ordered into isolation a…
A few days ago there was a conference on competition issues that was not cancelled. Hooray! In Berlin, the competition working group of the renowned German economists’ club “Verein für Socialpolitik” met. Prof. Dr. Andreas Polk was on site and reports for D’Kart about the last meeting of its kind for some time… This year’s meeting of the Competition Working Group, which traditionally meets before the Economic Policy Committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik, was not yet entirely dominated by…
Carnival is over, we were still allowed to go outside the door in the Rhineland then. In the meantime, everything has moved to home office. Now, what happens if you are no longer allowed to see your local bookstore since you may bump into someone coming home from a conference in China? Before you run out of stock of reading material, Rupprecht Podszun has hoarded news and written down what was still on his mind for 2019 and 19a. Here…
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…
German Ministries send their draft bills to hearings of stakeholders. Now it was the turn of the draft competition law reform that had to pass through this hellfire. Rupprecht Podszun went to Berlin to see how the Ministry fared with the representatives of industries, Google and the like… Name of the event: Hearing on the GWB Digitisation Act (#GWB10) (“Verbändeanhörung” in German) Place & Time: Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, auditorium of the old Kaiser Wilhelm Academy, 18 February…
Today, the German Federal Ministry of Economics officially published the draft bill on the new competition law. For months we have been waiting for the Big Bang, the 10th amendment of the GWB (#GWB10). But we had to wait: first, Peter Altmaier’s Ministry worked for a long time to shape the rules for GAFAs, then the Federal Ministry of Justice blocked its publication since it disagreed on aspects of the implementation of the ECN plus directive. In the meantime, we…
Der Referentenentwurf zur 10. GWB-Novelle sieht neben einer Modernisierung der Missbrauchsaufsicht, einer partiellen Überarbeitung der Vorschriften zur Fusionskontrolle und einigen Nachschärfungen im Kartellschadensersatzrecht auch erhebliche Änderungen im Kartellbußgeldrecht vor. Rechtsanwalt Dr. Maximilian Janssen stellt einige der wichtigsten geplanten Neuerungen in diesem Bereich vor. Die Ausführungen beziehen sich auf die Entwurfsfassung des Referentenentwurfs vom 07.10.2019, 18:14 Uhr (verfügbar zum Download hier). Neustrukturierung der §§ 81 ff. GWB Im Zuge der Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2019/1 sieht der Referentenentwurf (RefE) eine grundlegende Neustrukturierung…
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…