The Bundeskartellamt is an independent higher federal authority assigned to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Since 1 October 1999 it has been located in Bonn, after operating for 40 years from Berlin after its establishment on 1 January 1958.

The Bundeskartellamt has a staff of 320, half of whom are legal or economic experts. The authority’s annual budget is € 21,7 million (last update 2009).

For further information on the tasks and activities of the Bundeskartellamt please consult our Information brochure and the Bundeskartellamt’s Activity Reports.

The Bundeskartellamt's decisions are made in a manner similar to judicial proceedings by twelve decision divisions, which are organised according to economic sector. To make the prosecution of so-called hardcore cartels (price, quota, costumer and market allocation agreements) even more effective, three Decision Divisions were set up between 2005 and 2011 which are exclusively dedicated to the cross-sector prosecution of such cartel cases. The decision divisions are assisted inter alia by the General Policy Department which provides advice on special competition law matters and coordinates cooperation with other competition authorities, e.g. within the fora of the ECN (European Competition Network), ECA (European Competition Authorities) and ICN (International Competition Network).

Decisions in review proceedings under federal public procurement law are taken by the three federal public procurement tribunals in court-like proceedings.

Further information and an Organisation Chart of the Bundeskartellamt is available under the heading Organisation.