In its decision of 16 December 2014, which has only recently been published, the Federal Court of Justice confirmed the acquittal of St. Gobain Weber GmbH by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court on account of it being a legal successor that cannot be held liable. (Link Federal Court of Justice decision (in German)).

In 2009 the Bundeskartellamt imposed fines on maxit Deutschland GmbH (maxit) and eight other manufacturers of dry mortar on account of illegal cartel agreements (see Bundeskartellamt press release of 3 July 2009). After maxit was taken over by St. Gobain Weber GmbH (St. Gobain), which had also been involved in the cartel, maxit was merged with St. Gobain only a few months after the cartel proceeding had been concluded. The Federal Court of Justice has now confirmed the view of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court that the requirements for fining St. Gobain as the legal successor of maxit were not fulfilled. In the court's view, this still applied even if the relevant provisions were interpreted in accordance with European law. The assets of the merged company and its legal successor were in any case not "essentially identical".

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "Even though in this case the previous law was still applicable, it nevertheless proves that there is a need for legislative action. Several legal loopholes remain which make it possible for cartel participants to avoid being fined for a competition law violation through clever restructuring measures. The Federal Court of Justice's decision has also made it clear that it is not possible to resort to the European provisions on legal succession without a prior amendment to the German law. This is likely to have a negative impact on several other proceedings that are still pending."

A fine of around 12 million euros had been imposed on maxit which, according to the Bundeskartellamt's findings, had played a leading role in the cartel.
Some of the other orders imposing fines have become final without a judicial review. Four other undertakings that had also appealed to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court were ordered by the court to pay fines.