Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "Competition is an essential cornerstone of our social market economy. It is the Bundeskartellamt's responsibility to act as a kind of referee to limit market power in the economy and punish illegal restrictions of competition. We must make sure that also in the age of digitalisation markets are kept open and the power of individual companies does not go uncontrolled."

Internet economy

In early 2015 the Bundeskartellamt set up a "Task Force for Internet Platforms" to take account of the importance of the digital economy for all sectors of industry. The Task Force develops competition law concepts to deal with the digital economy and platform markets in the authority's specific case work. Building on the knowledge gained by the Task Force, the Bundeskartellamt has cleared two mergers in the areas of real estate portals (Immonet and Immowelt) and dating platforms (Parship and Elitepartner). It has also taken a close look at the online sales conditions applied by brand manufacturers (including adidas and ASICS). Furthermore, it has worked towards getting Amazon Marketplace to abandon its practice throughout Europe of demanding that retailers do not offer their products cheaper elsewhere than on Amazon's sales platform. The Bundeskartellamt has also prohibited the hotel booking portal HRS from using these so-called "best price" clauses. Its proceeding against Booking.com is still pending. The authority is also investigating the online ticket retailer CTS Eventim on suspicion of abusive practices and has recently initiated a proceeding against Audible and Apple on account of certain agreements on audiobooks.
Andreas Mundt: "With increasing digitalisation we are witnessing a new economic revolution which is capturing all sectors of the economy. This has a great impact on our case work: On the one hand the digital economy is dominated by large companies because of the typical network effects. On the other, new important players quickly become active in many areas and the dynamics of the internet is always creating new successful models. In protecting competition it is our key task to punish abusive practices and keep the markets open for new business models."

Cartel prosecution

In 2015 the Bundeskartellamt imposed fines totalling around 208 million euros* in eleven cases. The fines were imposed on 45 companies and 24 individuals. The proceedings concerned various sectors, such as e.g. automotive part manufacturers, mattress manufacturers, providers of container transport services and manufacturers of prefabricated garages. First fines were also imposed in the so-called vertical case concerning agreements between food manufacturers and food retailers.
In 2015 the Bundeskartellamt received new indications of cartel cases and followed these up in 18 dawn raids at a total of 88 companies with the assistance of the criminal investigation departments and public prosecutors.

Merger control

Around 1,100 merger projects were notified to the Bundeskartellamt in 2015, eleven of which were closely examined in second phase proceedings. One of these was prohibited and another was withdrawn by the companies themselves. One case was cleared subject to conditions, six cases without conditions and obligations. Two cases are still being examined.
The prohibition concerned the planned acquisition of Kaiser's Tengelmann by EDEKA. In the authority's opinion the takeover would have greatly limited choice for local consumers and the possibilities for them to switch to another retailer. It would have also led to further concentration on the demand side in the food procurement markets. The Bundeskartellamt had indicated at an early stage which individual Kaiser’s Tengelmann outlets EDEKA could have taken over without raising competition concerns. However, the companies were not prepared to consider these conditions for clearance which meant that the project had to be prohibited altogether.
The companies then applied for a ministerial authorisation. In this procedure the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy examines whether in a specific case the restraint of competition is outweighed by advantages to the economy as a whole or by an overriding public interest. The proceeding is still ongoing.

Food retail sector

Apart from the planned merger between EDEKA and Kaiser’s Tengelmann, the food retail sector played a key role in the authority's case work in 2015. For instance, the Bundeskartellamt has recently concluded a large part of its proceedings against manufacturers and retailers in the food retail sector for illegally maintaining the retail prices of well-known brand products in the following categories: confectionery, coffee, pet food, beer and body care products. The retailers and manufacturers concerned had agreed on the shop prices to the detriment of end customers, a practice which violated competition law. The remaining proceedings are to be concluded shortly.

In a proceeding before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court concerning "wedding rebates", i.e. the adjustment of purchase conditions to those previously granted to an acquired company, the Bundeskartellamt’s position was rejected by the Court. In 2009, after its takeover of Plus, EDEKA had demanded improved conditions from its suppliers which in the Bundeskartellamt's view clearly exceeded the scope of what was admissible under competition law. In its recent decision the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court came to a different conclusion. The Bundeskartellamt has appealed against the decision.
Andreas Mundt: "It remains to be seen whether the Court’s decision will be upheld. Notwithstanding this, the business relations between the food retailers and their suppliers will remain an important issue for the competition authorities. Once the proceedings are concluded, we will again seek a dialogue with the sector."

Information material for schools

Last year the Bundeskartellamt improved its information offer and published a learning kit on the subject "Competition Control in Germany“ and a comprehensive list of links to videos and further information material (link to learning kit, in German only). Teachers can use the kit in economics and social studies lessons to demonstrate in a practice-oriented approach the significance of competition in our economic system and explain the framework conditions set by the state to protect competition.

*The total amount of fines imposed in 2015 has increased from 190 to 208 million euros because more fines were imposed after our press release at the end of the year.