The Bundeskartellamt is the most important competition authority in Germany. It is an independent higher federal authority assigned to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The authority’s task is to protect competition in Germany. The Bundeskartellamt is based in Bonn and employs more than 400 people.
Why is competition important?
Competition ensures that businesses are constantly striving to win and retain the favour of customers, who could switch to another company offering similar products or services at any time. It is the pressure created by competition which encourages suppliers to offer their products or services at a better price, improve quality and develop new products. Competition provides an incentive for businesses to innovate and come up with new offers that help them attract new customers and enter new markets.
Apart from its direct economic benefits, competition has another important function in that it limits not only the economic but also the social and political power of individual companies. We are currently seeing this, for example, in the debates about large internet companies, where concerns are raised not only about their economic power but also about their power over data and opinion.
Guardian of competition
Competition can be inconvenient for market players. Businesses may therefore try to avoid or eliminate competition, for example by concluding agreements with their competitors or by acquiring or merging with competing businesses.
As in sport, a referee is required to ensure that the rules of play are observed in order to prevent such restrictions of competition and to safeguard the benefits of competition. Ever since its foundation more than 65 years ago, the Bundeskartellamt has worked to protect competition in Germany, for the benefit of consumers. Ludwig Erhard, former economics minister, German chancellor and founder of the Bundeskartellamt, once described German competition law as the “Basic Law of the German Market Economy”.
The rules governing competition in the German economy are mainly set out in the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen – GWB). At the European level competition rules are enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Articles 101 and 102 TFEU); they have been implemented in and supplemented by various regulations and directives.
One of the Bundeskartellamt’s main tasks is to enforce the ban on cartels, that is the prohibition to conclude illegal agreements. But the Bundeskartellamt also has many other tasks that help ensure effective protection of competition.
What are those tasks and how is the Bundeskartellamt structured?
Globalisation is pushing markets closer together and businesses are becoming more international. For this reason, the Bundeskartellamt cooperates closely with competition authorities all over the world, and in particular in the European Union.
What does this international cooperation look like in practice? Who is in charge of which matters and which institutions and organisations are important?
Cookies erleichtern die Bereitstellung unserer Dienste. Mit der Nutzung unserer Dienste erklären Sie sich damit einverstanden, dass wir Cookies verwenden. Weitere Informationen zum Datenschutz erhalten Sie über den folgenden Link:
Datenschutz