In Germany, the next amendment of the competition law regime is on its way. This week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) presented a draft bill to tighten competition. In this post, we present the envisaged changes and put them in perspective. An agenda becomes reality Back in March, we summarised the … Continue reading The next change in German competition law is just around the corner →

Normally on this blog, we deal with academic topics and legal issues at the intersection of antitrust law and politics. From time to time, however, we also want to provide an insight into the practical work of antitrust practitioners. This post summarizes some key points which should be considered when conducting antitrust trainings. One training … Continue reading One training to learn it all →

We have already blogged about the new Draft Horizontal Guidelines here. Even though the topic of information exchange and its potential effects on competition is not entirely new, the relevant antitrust limits are still highly relevant and much discussed. Although there may still be changes until the final version, the Draft Horizontal Guidelines indicate which … Continue reading Information exchange: What to expect from the new Horizontal Guidelines →

As many of our readers might know, the Vertical Block Exemptions and the corresponding Guidelines were just the beginning of a series of new Block Exemptions and Guidelines in Europe. Already in March 2022, the European Commission published its Draft Horizontal Guidelines, which should ultimately become effective as of January 2023. One chapter deals with … Continue reading Bidding consortia: More guidance to come →

One of the 10 commandments that not only Christians will know is: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. All Most of us have already learned this basic rule of human behaviour in kindergarten regardless of whether and to which faith they belong(ed). Last week, the European Commission opened a formal investigation into … Continue reading A foul as an abuse of market power?   →

Some of our older readers might recall the TV show “The X-Files”, in which the two FBI agents Scully and Mulder deal with unsolved cases called the X-Files. These cases always had a kind of mystical touch. Not mystical at all is the GAIA-X initiative, in which governments and companies work to design the next … Continue reading The X-Files: No science fiction at all →

On 10 May 2022, the European Commission published its new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER), which will enter into force in June. Many have published very good summaries on the rules. Some also welcomed the very late changes that were made with regard to information exchange in the context of dual distribution. In this post, … Continue reading The Vertical Block Exemption – how we got where we are →

A month ago, we started our new series about the history of challenging big tech with a post on Microsoft’s interoperability and Media Player case. Since we cover the cases in this series by their start date rather than their end date, today we report on a case that has not ended yet but began … Continue reading A history of challenging big tech – Part II: CPUs & Rebates →

We have given our readers a short overview about the history of foreign investment control in Germany here and have also blogged about certain cases (here). Yesterday, news broke that the German government is set to block the acquisition of Heyer Medical AG by the Chinese Aeonmed – a deal that apparently closed more than … Continue reading Update on German FDI – Government about to prohibit medical deal →

Everyone speaks about regulating big tech. We have also blogged about this topic several times (inter alia here, here and here). In the context of the current discussion, however, it should not be forgotten that "regulating big tech" already has a certain history. The current draft of the Digital Markets Act also contains some provisions … Continue reading A history of challenging big tech – Part I: Interoperability and a Media Player →