The Bundeskartellamt has today published draft guidelines on the conformity of cooperatives with competition law. Interested parties are invited to submit comments on the guidelines as part of a public consultation.
Cooperatives play an important role in many sectors of Germany’s economy. Working together as a cooperative can enable smaller companies in particular to strengthen their position in the market and thus stimulate competition. At the same time, cooperatives and their members are market players that have to operate within the limits set by competition law, which cannot always be conclusively determined at first glance.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Cooperatives are an indispensable company structure in Germany’s corporate landscape and play an important role in various sectors of the economy. It is therefore not surprising that over the years cooperative enterprises have also been the subject of antitrust proceedings. In this context, legal uncertainties regarding the scope and limits of cooperative activities under competition law have been discussed on several occasions. At the same time, the advancing digital transformation of economic processes and the development of the digital economy are causing upheavals to which cooperatives also have to adapt and which raise new questions for cooperative forms of collaboration. With these guidelines we aim to provide small and medium-sized cooperatives in particular with guidance to enable them to walk the thin line between necessary and useful collaboration on the one hand and illegal behaviour on the other.”

Against the backdrop of the Bundeskartellamt’s previous proceedings against cooperatives and in view of the open questions resulting from the structural changes in agricultural trade and the increase in online sales, the 2018 Coalition Agreement of the governing parties CDU, CSU and SPD stipulates that guidelines on the conformity of cooperatives with German competition law should be developed. The Bundeskartellamt is now complying with this request. The draft guidelines, which have now been published, aim to explain (not only) to cooperatives the background, purpose and scope of the prohibition of anti-competitive agreements and outline the possible scope of cooperative activities using practical examples. The guidance is especially intended for small and medium-sized companies which in many cases do not have access to continuous and specialised advice on competition law.

Interested parties are invited to submit their comments on the draft guidelines by 24 May 2021.

The draft guidelines on the conformity of cooperatives with competition law can be found on the Bundeskartellamt’s website. (German only)

The comments are intended for publication. Respondents are therefore requested to send an additional copy of their comments in which any business secrets have been deleted