The tasks, activities and organisation of the Bundeskartellamt are mainly based on the following legal provisions or are substantiated by the following notices:
Legal bases
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.
- Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Treaty on the European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon, consolidated version) (Official Journal No. C 83/01 of 30 March 2010)
- Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 101 and 102 TFEU
- Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (EC Merger Control Regulation, ECMR)
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.


