German Competition Law Newsletter
Below are links to German Competition Law Newsletters that Cleary publishes on a regular basis.
2022
January – March
News
FCO
Horizontal Agreements
FCO Fines Manufacturers Of Modular Expansion Joints For Bridges For Quota Cartel
- On December 28, 2021 and January 21, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) imposed fines totaling €7.3 million on Maurer SE (“Maurer”) and Mageba GmbH, Göttingen (“Mageba”) for bid rigging and market allocation.
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FCO Allows Furniture Retailer To Join Purchasing Cooperation After Modifications To Initial Plans
- On January 19, 2022, the FCO closed its proceedings on furniture retailer KHG GmbH & Co. KG’s (Krieger/Höffner Group, “KHG”) envisaged accession to the purchasing cooperation Bedarfsgüter Großhandelsgesellschaft für Wohnung GmbH (“Begros”) which it had initiated in early 2021. In the end, KHG and Begros were able to dispel the FCO’s concerns by offering substantial modifications to their initial plans.
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FCO Raids Cable Manufacturers
- Between January 18 and January 20, 2022, the FCO raided the German premises of four associations and several manufacturers of electrical cables and wires in relation to alleged coordination of industry-standard metal surcharges. The cable manufacturers Prysmian S.p.A. (“Prysmian”), Leoni AG (“Leoni”), Nexans S.A. (“Nexans”), and NKT A/S (“NKT”) confirmed searches at their premises and explained that they are cooperating with the FCO.
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Sustainability
FCO Provides Guidance On Sustainability Agreements
- With the examination of two sustainability cooperations concerning living wages in the banana sector as well as the expansion of an animal welfare initiative, the FCO provided further guidance for the implementation of sustainability initiatives in the food retail industry. In its press release, the FCO informs that it is open to examine sustainability initiatives as part of the authority’s offer to provide companies guidance “on how to ensure that sustainability strategies are embedded in competition law”.
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Further Guidance On Sustainability Agreements: FCO Rejected An Initiative In The Milk Sector
- On January 25, 2022, the FCO provided further guidance for the implementation of sustainability initiatives under competition law: It concluded that a proposed agreement in the milk sector to introduce surcharges for the benefit of milk producers was anticompetitive. However, the FCO indicated that it would be open to consider a revised concept including sustainability objectives which is not based on a price agreement to the detriment of consumers.
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Abuse
FCO Concerned Lufthansa Hinders Condor In Its Long-Haul Flights
- On February 8, 2022, the FCO preliminarily found that Deutsche Lufthansa AG (“Lufthansa”) has to provide feeder flights for Condor Flugdienst GmbH’s (“Condor”) long-haul flights. The FCO invited the parties to comment on its preliminary findings before issuing its decision.
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No FCO Investigation Into DNS Services
- On February 3, 2022, the FCO declared that it will not—at this stage—launch an investigation in the area of Domain Name System (“DNS”) services. Following indications from market participants, the FCO conducted a preliminary investigation lasting several months, but found that the suspicion of anticompetitive conduct in this field has not been substantiated.
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Mergers & Acquisitions
FCO Blocks Merger Of Number 1 And Number 3 Linear Drainage Providers
- On January 13, 2022, the FCO prohibited ACO Ahlmann SE & Co. KG’s (“ACO”) acquisition of BIRCO GmbH (“BIRCO”).
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FCO Conditionally Clears Filling Station Network Merger
- On February 11, 2022, the FCO approved the acquisition of OMV Retail Deutschland GmbH’s (“OMV”) filling station network by the British convenience retailer EG Group Limited (“EG Group”). The FCO’s approval is subject to the prior divestiture of 25 EG Group filling stations and 23 OMV filling stations in southern Germany.
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FCO Increases Scrutiny Of Waste Recycling Takeovers
- On January 19, 2022, the FCO launched a new sector inquiry into the waste management sector in preparation to order Rethmann SE & Co. KG (“Rethmann Group”) to notify future acquisitions of smaller waste management companies.
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Automotive Supplier Dana Finally Abandons Acquisition Of Modine’s Light-Vehicle Thermal Business
- On January 17, 2022, the FCO published a case summary on its two consecutive in-depth-investigations of automotive supplier Dana Inc.’s (“Dana”) proposed acquisition of (a portion of) Modine Manufacturing Company’s (“Modine”) light-vehicle thermal business. The parties first notified the acquisition in December 2020. When the FCO informed the notifying parties about its competitive concerns, Dana and Modine withdrew their merger notification and subsequently re-filed the transaction with a limited scope in June 2021. Following another in-depth review of the FCO, the parties definitely abandoned the merger and withdrew the modified merger notification in October 2021, before the FCO came to a conclusion as to whether the modified transaction would have raised competitive concerns.
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Policy & Procedure
FCO’s Third Market Power Report Finds Market Dominance In The Electricity Generation Sector And Analyses New Framework Conditions For The Provision Of Balancing Energy
- On February 17, 2021, the FCO published its third report on market power in the electricity generation sector (“Market Power Report”), analyzing the competitive landscape from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. Again, the FCO published its results one year earlier than statutorily required because of the continuing phase-out of nuclear and coal energy.
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Monopoly Commission Presents 2021 Sector Reports On The Postal And Telecommunications Markets
- On December 16, 2021, the German Monopoly Commission, an advisory board of the German Government, published its 12th Sector Reports on competition in the postal and telecommunications markets.
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Please click here to read the complete Newsletter.
2021
2020