Sending unencrypted emails

 As a general rule, only informal contacts are possible via email. Legally binding statements in particular cannot be made via a member of staff’s individual email address. However, this does not apply to the shared mailbox accounts specifically mentioned on this website.

Prior to contacting the Bundeskartellamt via email, please check whether your message contains confidential information and should thus be encrypted and whether your message has to satisfy any mandatory formal requirements, such as the requirement to include a qualified electronic signature in the submitted document (more information on this is available below).

 Please also note that you can only send us emails of up to 20MB in size.

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Merger notifications

Merger notifications can be submitted electronically. However, pursuant to Section 39(1) of the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen – GWB) only the following means of electronic transmission are permitted:

a) Transmission of the notification bearing a qualified electronic signature of the person responsible by email to the central email address fusionskontrolle@bundeskartellamt.bund.de set up by the Bundeskartellamt. Any annexes to the written statement that are attached as separate documents and transmitted together with the statement do not have to be signed individually.

b) Transmission of the notification to the central De-Mail address fusionskontrolle@bundeskartellamt.de-mail.de set up by the Bundeskartellamt, provided that at the time the message is sent the sender is logged in securely within the meaning of Section 4(1) sentence 2 of the German De-Mail Act (De-Mail-Gesetz) and secure login has been confirmed pursuant to Section 5(5) of the German De-Mail Act.

c) Transmission of the notification signed by the person responsible from a special electronic mailbox for German lawyers (“beA”) as defined under Section 31a of the German Federal Regulations for Practising Lawyers (Bundesrechtsanwaltsordnung) or from a similar electronic mailbox set up on the basis of statutory provisions to the Bundeskartellamt’s special electronic mailbox for German public authorities (“beBPo”) against receipt (more information on beBPo mailboxes is available below).

An online platform for notifications (Section 39(1) sentence 2 no. 4 GWB) is currently not yet available. It is still possible to file notifications by post or fax. Communications other than merger notifications or applications for review under public procurement law can be sent to the Bundeskartellamt’s central email address poststelle@bundeskartellamt.bund.de. Users who have registered with De-Mail providers also have the option of contacting the Bundeskartellamt at the De-Mail address poststelle@bundeskartellamt.de-mail.de.

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Electronic applications for review

Applications for review pursuant to Section 160(1) of the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen – GWB) can be submitted electronically to the Federal Public Procurement Tribunals. Only the following means of electronic transmission are permitted:

1. Transmission of the application for review including a qualified electronic signature by email to vk@bundeskartellamt.bund.de. Any annexes to the written statement that are attached as separate documents and transmitted together with the statement do not have to be signed individually.
2. Transmission of the application for review by De-Mail to vk@bundeskartellamt.de-mail.de, provided that the sender is registered with a De-Mail provider.
3. Transmission of the application signed by the person responsible from a special electronic mailbox for German lawyers (“beA”) as defined under Section 31a of the German Federal Regulations for Practising Lawyers (Bundesrechtsanwaltsordnung) or from a similar electronic mailbox set up on the basis of statutory provisions to the Bundeskartellamt’s special electronic mailbox for German public authorities (“beBPo”) against receipt (more information on beBPo mailboxes is available below).

It is still possible to file applications for review by post or fax.

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Sending electronic documents to the special electronic mailbox for German public authorities

 You can also contact the Bundeskartellamt via the special electronic mailbox for German public authorities (beBPo). The Bundeskartellamt has five beBPo mailboxes:

•  “Bundeskartellamt – Allg. Posteingang” (general incoming mail): For all correspondence with the Bundeskartellamt, in particular the Decision Divisions, the General Policy Division and the Litigation and Legal Division, unless one of the following beBPO mailboxes is to be used as specified below.
• “Bundeskartellamt – Vergabekammern des Bundes” (Federal Public Procurement Tribunals): For all correspondence with the Federal Public Procurement Tribunals.
• “Bundeskartellamt Poststelle Wettbewerbsregister” (mail service of the Competition Register for Public Procurement): For all correspondence with the Competition Register for Public Procurement, unless the following beBPo mailbox is to be used.
• “Bundeskartellamt Wettbewerbsregister” (Competition Register for Public Procurement): Only for the registration of public contracting entities and authorities required to communicate data (see contact details for “Competition Register for Public Procurement”. German version).
• “Bundeskartellamt – Verwaltung” (administration): For all correspondence with the Bundeskartellamt’s Central Division, in particular in connection with court proceedings relating to employment matters.

Please note that you can currently only send documents of up to 200MB in size.

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Tip-offs about competition law infringements

 Click here to report competition law infringements to the Bundeskartellamt electronically.

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Sending electronic documents – file formats

Should you wish to send files to the Bundeskartellamt, please note that not all file formats and applications commonly used in the market are supported. The following file formats can always be processed: 

• Portable Document Format (PDF)
• Image file formats (jpeg, jpg, png, tif)

It is not permitted to send files in which the macro functions or similar functions are activated. These will not be processed.

In addition, for security reasons, old file formats such as *.doc (Word) and *.xls (Excel) cannot be delivered to the electronic mailboxes or other email addresses at the Bundeskartellamt. We therefore kindly ask you to use an up-to-date and secure file format when sending electronic documents to the Bundeskartellamt.

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Transmission of electronic documents with a qualified electronic signature

The qualified electronic signature verifies the origin of the transmitted document by linking the message to its author (ensuring authentication). The requirement to include a qualified electronic signature also ensures that the content of the signed document has not been changed (protecting the integrity of the data submitted).

Persons who wish to submit a document by email with a qualified electronic signature have to ensure that the certificate used meets the requirements for qualified certificates for electronic signatures set out in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (eIDAS Regulation).

In order to generate a qualified electronic signature, the sender needs a so-called qualified certificate and an electronic key pair consisting of a secret and a public key relating to the certificate. The qualified certificate links the public key to a specific person – its owner. So-called trust service providers guarantee that the public key actually belongs to a specific person. These providers issue a qualified certificate to this effect.

For more information on trust service providers and on how to use qualified electronic signatures please visit the Bundesnetzagentur’s website “Elektronische Vertrauensdienste” (German only).

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Transmission of e-mails with encrypted content

E-mail encryption does not render a qualified electronic signature unnecessary. It is, however, possible to combine encryption and a qualified electronic signature in order to prevent third parties from accessing the data transmitted electronically and, in this way, ensure that only the intended recipient can access the content of the sender’s message.

The Bundeskartellamt uses S/MIME and GnuPG encryption. The list of e-mail adresses and keys necessary for encrypting messages with S/MIME and GnuPG may be found here.