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Legal bases

The tasks, activities and organisation of the Bundeskartellamt are mainly based on the following legal provisions or are substantiated by the following notices:

I. German legal provisions and notices

  • Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (Act against Restraints of Competition, ARC)
  • Verordnung über die Kosten der Kartellbehörden, KartKostV (Regulation on the administrative charges imposed by the competition authorities) of 16 November 1970 (BGBl. I 1970, p. 1535)
  • Guidelines on the setting of fines (Notice no. 38/2006 on the imposition of fines under Section 81 (4) sentence 2 of the Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) against undertakings and associations of undertakings of 15 September 2006)
  • Leniency Programme (Notice no. 9/2006 on the immunity from and reduction of fines in cartel cases of 7 March 2006)
  • Best practices for expert economic opinions, 20 October 2010

II. European legal provisions

Note: The EU documents are available here

III. Reference sources for ARC amendments, old versions of the ARC and legislative materials

Note: Parliament printed papers from the 16th legislative period are available at the Dokumentations- und Informationssystem für Parlamentarische Vorgänge, DIP (Documentation and Information System for Parliamentary Materials); printed papers dating back to the 8th – 15th legislative periods are available here. Printed papers and related information from the parliaments of the German Länder are also available from the Parlamentsspiegel (joint integrated parliamentary information system of the parliaments of the German Länder). 

  • Price abuse amendment (2007)
    BGBl. I 2007, p. 2966
    Bundestag Drucksache 16/5847
    Bill on the prevention of price abuse in the areas of energy supply and food trade” (Federal Government bill)
    Bundestag Drucksache 16/7156
    Recommendation and Report by the Committee on Economics and Technology (9th committee) on the Federal Government’s bill) – Drucksache 16/5847 –
    Bundesrat Drucksache 278/07 (including corrigendum of Bundesrat Drucksache 278/07)
    Bill on the prevention of price abuse in the areas of energy supply and food trade (Federal Government Bill)
  • 7th Amendment to the ARC (2005)
    BGBl. I 2005, p. 2114
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 15/5049
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 15/3640
    Deutscher Bundestag Ausschussdrucksache 15(9)1333
  • 6th Amendment to the ARC (1998)
    BGBl. I 1998, p. 2546
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 13/9720
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 13/10633
  • 5th Amendment to the ARC (1989)
    BGBl. I 1990, p. 235
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 11/4610
    Bundesrat Drucksache 123/89
  • 4th Amendment to the ARC (1980)
    BGBl. I 1980, p. 1761
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 8/2136
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 8/3690
    Bundesrat Drucksache 231/78
  • 3rd Amendment to the ARC (1976)
    BGBl. I 1976, p. 1697
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 7/2954
    Bundesrat Drucksache 593/74
  • Second Amendment to the ARC (1973)
    BGBl. I 1974, p. 869
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 7/76
    Bundesrat Drucksache 449/73
  • First Amendment to the ARC (1965)
    BGBl. I 1966, p. 37
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 4/617
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 4/2337
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 4/2564
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 4/3533
  • Original version of the ARC (1958)
    BGBl. I, 1957, p. 1081
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 2/1158
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 2/3644

The Bundeskartellamt undertakes no guarantee that the content of the legal provisions linked to its website is up-to-date.