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The most important developments in antitrust law in Germany in 2023

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Our partner Silke Heinz elaborates on and analyzes the most important developments in antitrust law in Germany in 2023 in a Kluwer Competition Law Blog, see here: https://competitionlawblog.kluwercompetitionlaw.com/2024/03/05/main-developments-in-competition-law-and-policy-2023-germany/.  The blog covers the latest antitrust law reform, decisions regarding digital gatekeepers under Section 19a ARC (gatekeeper designation and abusive practices), cases on abuse of dominance, cartels, sustainability agreements and other horizontal cooperation, merger control and damages.

Recognitions

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We are very pleased that Heinz & Zagrosek, as well as the individual partners, have been listed again in several rankings on antitrust law in Germany: Heinz & Zagrosek ranks among the GCR TOP 100 law firms 2023 by magazin Global Competition Review  (here), and is listed among the best commercial law firms 2023 in Germany for antitrust law in magazine brandeins (here), as well as among the Focus magazine’s TOP commercial law firms 2023 in Germany (here). Silke Heinz is listed in well-renowned Chambers under European Competition Law , Germany 2023, (here). Silke Heinz und Dr. Roman Zagrosek are both among the Handelsblatt’s best lawyers in Germany in 2023 in the area of antitrust/competition law, and Dr. Zagrosek also in the area of corporate governance & compliance (here). 
We are very grateful for the recognition of our work and see this as further incentive to continue to provide our clients with top quality legal services that are comprehensible at the same time.

Provision-by-provision commentary on the DMA published

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Cover-Digital-Markets-Act-Podszun-Silke-Heinz-Nomos-Handkommentar

The new commentary on the DMA has been published: Podszun (Ed.), Digital Markets Act: DMA, Gesetz über digitale Märkte, Handkommentar, 2023 (in German). 
This is one of the first specific commentaries on the new legislation at EU level that imposes certain obligations and prohibitions on so-called digital gatekeepers. 
The regulation is applicable in addition to competition law.  The DMA is considered as a legislative “milestone” in the area of digital ecosystems.

Silke Heinz has authored the chapters on Art. 5(3),(4),(5),(7) and (8), as well as Art. 6(5) DMA.
The German version of the commentary is available here. An English version is in preparation and is scheduled to be published still in 2023.

Alphabet / Google is subject to new abuse control rules applicable to large digital companies in Germany

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On December 30, 2021, the Federal Cartel Office has decided that Google has paramount significance for competition across markets in Germany under Section 19a ARC. Accordingly, Google is now subject to the new special abuse control rules for large digital companies. Silke Heinz has published a guest commentary (in German) in the legal journal Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb 02/2022, see here.

The FCO has published a press release on the decision (in English), see here.

The decision has also been published by now (only in German), see here

Heinz & Zagrosek recognized as top antitrust/competition law firm in Germany in several rankings

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Heinz & Zagrosek has been recognized as one of the top antitrust/competition law firms in Germany in several rankings this year: renowned magazines brandeins, Wirtschaftswoche, Focus as well as Handelsblatt/Best Lawyers all rank partner Silke Heinz and the law firm Heinz & Zagrosek among the top antitrust lawyers in Germany.  We are very pleased and would like to thank everyone for the great feedback! This provides us with even more motivation to continuously aim at producing excellent work, offer tailor-made services to our clients and become even better!

(Here are links to the rankings.)

Competition law compliance and digitization

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Silke Heinz gave a short speech on the topic Competition law compliance and digitization at the webconference Legal & Compliance Forum on April 30, 2020.  She speaks about the recent tendencies of competition authorities pursuing hardcore restrictions in vertical supply relations and horizontal cartels, including on the role of technological developments in the digital economy.  At the end, Ms. Heinz talks about the role of algorithms, how competition authorities view these and presents conclusions for compliance work.  You can find a video of the speech here (in German)

New publication: Knott/Zagrosek, The Company as Perpetrator – Compliance and M&A under the Planned German Corporate Criminal Sanctions Code (November 19, 2019).

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The Company as Perpetrator, Compliance and M&A under the Planned German Corporate Criminal Sanctions Code.
Germany law does not yet provide for a corporate criminal liability in general. For anti-trust law, similar corporate criminal provisions compared to those now planned in general do already exist. The level of fines will be much higher than in the past (up to 10% of worldwide group revenues) and violations must be prosecuted, there is no more discretion. The new law shall also provide for successor liability which in M&A transactions may cause the Buyer to be responsible in addition to the Target and the Seller. Indemnities and remedies against future losses as well as careful structuring of transactions is required. The publication is published in Revista de Direito Comercial, 2019, and available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3496803.
Both authors have also published an article about this topic in German in: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (ZIP), 2019, Heft 50/S. 2385, Knott/Zagrosek, „Das Unternehmen als Täter – Compliance-Fragen bei M&A Transaktionen nach dem geplanten Unternehmensstrafrecht“.

Amazon EU antitrust proceedings

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Silke Heinz discusses the recently opened EU Amazon antitrust proceedings in a podcast of the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s series “Our Curious Amalgam”, together with the other guest, Damien Geradin, and the hosts Matthew Hall and John Roberti.  The discussion covers inter alia the impact of Amazon’s dual role as operator of the Amazon marketplace and as retailer active on the same platform, the information/data collection aspects of the case, and possible lessons for the digital economy.  You can listen to the podcast here.