Focussing on the digital economy
Many digital markets show a tendency towards concentration and are dominated by a few big players. For this reason the Bundeskartellamt takes great care to ensure that competitors are given a chance and that consumers have a choice. Competitors and consumers can thus benefit from the potential dynamics of the markets. With the 10th amendment to the GWB in early 2021 the Bundeskartellamt gained new competences allowing the authority to intervene when competition is threatened by large digital companies. The amendment also modernised the traditional control of abusive practices. The Bundeskartellamt is now in a better position to deal with the conduct of large internet companies and the role played by digital business models.
Click here to learn more about the proceedings against large digital companies
Click here to learn more about the new rules for the digital economy
In the years preceding the modernisation of abuse control the Bundeskartellamt was already very active in this sector and conducted many landmark proceedings. One of these is the abuse control proceeding against Facebook based on which the authority prohibited Facebook from combining user data collected from various sources (more information is available here). Further proceedings had already been conducted in 2013 with regard to so-called ‘best price’ clauses used, for example, by Amazon (more information is available here), and subsequently against online hotel platforms (more information is available here). The authority also took action against impediments to online distribution and assessed mergers between various online platforms, for example in the area of real estate or dating platforms. Cooperation projects and the setting up of digital B2B platforms (for example in the agricultural, steel or cement sectors) were also examined.
Click here for more proceedings in the digital economy
Sector inquiries
The Bundeskartellamt conducts sector inquiries to get an accurate picture of the competitive situation in certain sectors of the economy. Sector inquiries can be initiated if there are indications suggesting that competition in these sectors is limited or distorted.
Click here for more information on sector inquiries
In 2023 the Bundeskartellamt concluded a sector inquiry into non-search online advertising.
Click here for more information on this sector inquiry
Apart from sector inquiries into traditional competition law issues the Bundeskartellamt can also launch sector inquiries into consumer law issues if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that consumer protection laws, such as the Act Against Unfair Competition (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb – UWG), have been severely violated. Several investigations into facts relating to consumers’ everyday digital activities have already been concluded or are ongoing.
Policy work relating to the digital economy
The Bundeskartellamt not only conducts proceedings in the online economy but also carries out important policy work in order to find answers to the many new legal and economic questions. The Think Tank Internet was already established in 2015. Since 2019 the separate “Digital Economy” unit has been working on conceptual projects and supporting the Decision Divisions in their proceedings relating to the digital economy.
The foundations laid by the Bundeskartellamt include its 2016 paper on “Market Power of Platforms and Networks” and the studies on “Competition and Data” and “Algorithms and Competition”, which it has published together with the French Autorité de la concurrence. The Bundeskartellamt also regularly publishes articles in the series of papers titled “Competition and Consumer Protection in the Digital Economy”, which it launched in 2017. All documents are available below.
In the authority’s policy work relating to the digital economy the national and international exchange of views with other experts in competition theory and practice is of particular importance. In addition to international cooperation the Bundeskartellamt also cooperates with other authorities at national level when it comes to issues at the interface between competition, data protection and consumer protection and issues relating to digitalisation: this includes cooperation with the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and, as a member of the “Digital Cluster Bonn” group which also includes the BSI, with the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI), the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ).
