On 4 October 2018, the Working Group on Competition Law met in Bonn at the invitation of the Bundeskartellamt. At the meeting over 120 competition law experts discussed and exchanged views on the theme "What is the scope and purpose of abuse control under competition law?”.

The Working Group on Competition Law is made up of a large number of university professors from law and economics faculties, high-ranking representatives of national and European competition authorities and ministries, as well as judges from the antitrust divisions of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court and the Federal Court of Justice. For more than 50 years, the group has met annually to discuss fundamental issues of competition policy.

Professor Dr Konrad Ost, Vice President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The importance of abuse control as a tool for competition authorities is increasing with the spread of digital technology. Politicians and the public alike have high expectations when it comes to the control of abusive practices. Especially in the digital economy, large and often dominant companies are developing due to network effects and the increasing significance of large amounts of data. Competition law practice and the legislator have to find the right response to new questions and constellations.”

This year's conference was chaired by Professor Dr Ost. Prof. Dr Florian Bien, University of Würzburg, Prof. Dr Ulrich Schwalbe, University of Hohenheim, Prof. Dr Justus Haucap, Heinrich-Heine University of Düsseldorf, Prof. Dr Achim Wambach, Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim and Chairman of the Monopolies Commission, Gunnar Wolf, DG COMP, European Commission, and Birgit Krueger, Head of the Bundeskartellamt’s General Policy Division, gave short introductory presentations and participated in the panel discussions.

Among the issues discussed was an expert opinion commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on the modernisation of abuse control, which was published recently. While the participants mostly agreed on the issues the experts identified, there was a controversial debate about the need for new regulations and their implementation in practice.

On a general note, the overall objectives of abuse control were discussed in this context. There was a broad consensus that abusive conduct should not be assessed solely on the grounds of short-term price effects. Many participants emphasised other objectives of abuse proceedings, especially in the digital economy, e.g. keeping markets open for competitors for a longer time or protecting innovations.

A further aspect of the discussions were considerations on how competition authorities can accelerate abuse proceedings in view of the rapid developments in the digital economy without excessively limiting the companies’ legal security and the level of legal protection. In this context, current developments in case law were discussed, e.g. what consequences the European Court of Justice’s decision in the Intel case (exclusive rebates) will have for requirements of proof for abusive conduct in general.