After more than two years of Covid 19, people strive to meet in person again. In addition to personal meetings in the private sphere, in-person meetings in the business environment are also on the rise again. Of course, this also includes conferences, many of which have not taken place or have only taken place virtually … Continue reading Antitrust likes to meet →

Fuel prices in Germany and many other countries are rising to heights that were hardly imaginable some time ago. This has led to increasing calls from politicians in recent days for an antitrust review of petrol pricing. In this post, we take a look at respective antitrust actions in the past, try to speculate why … Continue reading All one giant cartel? →

The German Ministry of Economic Affairs (called the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action since the Green Party took over the ministry, short BMWK) has published the German government’s competition policy agenda for the next three years. We have looked at the most important points (admittedly, not always with the otherwise warranted seriousness). Grist … Continue reading What to expect from Germany’s competition policy in the upcoming years →

Last week, five competition authorities announced to launch a new working group focussed on sharing information to identify and prevent potentially anticompetitive conduct in the global supply and distribution of goods. In this post, we will elaborate why these five cartel authorities in particular are working together (and who is not participating this time). We … Continue reading Supply chains and antitrust →

GlobalWafers’ acquisition of Siltronic has failed because German foreign investment control approval could not be obtained in time. The case stands for a development in past years: Many countries have tightened their foreign investment regimes, some of them considerably. In this post, we undertake a brief review of the history of foreign investment control in … Continue reading Foreign investment control in Germany – a short history   →

Last week, we blogged about the Bundeskartellamt finding that Alphabet/Google has a “paramount significance across markets”. One aspect that played a role in this and other cases is the relationship between data protection and antitrust law. A reason for us to take a closer look at this relationship in recent case law. As an antitrust … Continue reading Data protection and antitrust law – a relationship for eternity? →

We have blogged about recent cases involving big tech here and here. With its first press release this year, the Bundeskartellamt found that Alphabet/Google has a “paramount significance across markets”. In this post, we provide an outlook on the potential implications this decision might have in the future. Many people (and companies) start the new … Continue reading (Not) a happy new year? →

Today the new coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP, the so-called “traffic-light coalition”, published its coalition agreement. Rumours that the ministerial permission is to be abolished have not materialised. However, the new coalition plans to improve the right of third parties to appeal a ministerial permission and to potentially even involve the German parliament … Continue reading The German ministerial permission: Reform incoming?! →

Only recently, we have reported on various moves by senior antitrust officials to private practice. Today, we turn to the shift of responsibilities within the authorities and the question whether the European Commission and national European antitrust authorities have the capacities to enforce their new competition tools once they are made available to them. New … Continue reading Will the DMA and similar national rules be enforceable at all, and who will remain to enforce in other areas? →

The European Commission has announced its answer to the global chip crisis: A number of measures put together in what is called the European Chips Act. We take a brief look at the Commission’s plans and how they might influence ongoing and future deal reviews in the industry. Only recently, Tobias had a look at … Continue reading The European Chips Act – a political industry plan paralleling merger reviews →