A few hours ago, the “GWB Digitisation Act”, reforming German competition law, passed the Bundestag. Thus, with a long lead time, the reform of German antitrust law has been set in motion, which may now become law very quickly. The focus of public interest is above all the strengthening of the Federal Cartel Office against big tech. Philipp Bongartz puts the latest developments into context. With the votes of the Grand Coalition of CDU, CSU and SPD as well as…
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…
Lockdown light. Trump has been voted out of office, a company from Mainz, Germany, has apparently developed a vaccine, and most freshmen leave their cameras on during digital lessons in class. Glimmers of Hope. Rupprecht Podszun is riding the 2nd wave – here are his SSNIPpets, small but significant news, information and pleasentries – our pet project! The fifth season of the year Karneval, a German tradition that is close to Mardi Gras in New Orleans or the Rio Carnival,…
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…
The arena was opened on 24.1.2020: On this day, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology presented the draft bill for the “GWB Digitization Act” (the 10th amendment of the German competition act). Now, supporters and opponents of an update of the antitrust rules can work on concrete proposals. Rupprecht Podszun looks at the situation after week 1 and focuses on the digital issues of the amendment. Freedom or socialism? Really nice SSNIPpets had been ready for “print” last Friday….
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…