Tip-offs about competition law infringements

Information gained in work-related contexts

Have you obtained information about competition law infringements committed by companies in the context of your work-related activities or prior to taking up a professional activity? In this case please contact the Bundeskartellamt’s external reporting unit.

The Bundeskartellamt is the reporting unit for any information you may have

• about illegal anti-competitive agreements between companies (prohibition of anti-competitive agreements), between competitors (horizontal) or between suppliers and buyers (vertical),
  
  
• about prohibited conduct of dominant companies or companies with relative or superior market power (control of abusive practices),
  
  
• about other competition law infringements by companies (such as calls for supply or procurement freezes, violations of the prohibition under merger control to implement a merger without clearance or non-compliance with orders issued by the Bundeskartellamt),
  
  
• about prohibited conduct of large online platforms in their capacity as gatekeepers (including violations of the Digital Markets Act).

If you would like to report violations of other (non-competition) laws, please contact the Federal Office of Justice or the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). You can also report infringements via the internal reporting unit of the relevant company.

You can always contact the Bundeskartellamt's external reporting unit, regardless of whether or not you have provided information to an internal reporting unit.

Alternatively you can share your information with us by sending us an email, contacting us by phone or post or talking to us in person. Click here to see how you can contact the Bundeskartellamt (in German only).

Leniency programme

If you are a cartel member, the Bundeskartellamt’s leniency programme offers you the chance to go unpunished if you help us to uncover the cartel.

The Bundeskartellamt can grant cartel participants that contribute to uncovering a cartel by cooperating with the authority immunity from or a considerable reduction of fines. The earlier a cartel participant starts cooperating with the Bundeskartellamt, the more valuable their contribution is generally likely to be and the greater the recompense.

If you wish to contact the Bundeskartellamt in confidence, including anonymously through a lawyer in advance, or if you have any questions about the leniency programme, please contact the head of the Special Unit for Combating Cartels, Dr Katrin Roesen.

In cartel cases, in contrast to most criminal or administrative offences, it is not only the offenders that are initially unknown, but also the fact that an infringement has taken place. The Bundeskartellamt’s leniency programme, which was introduced in 2000, is a key tool to help uncover illegal agreements. Since the 10th amendment to the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen – GWB) in 2021 it has also been enshrined in law (Sections 81h to 81n GWB).

A company that participated in a cartel can avoid punishment if it discloses to the Bundeskartellamt its involvement in illegal agreements and thus helps to uncover and terminate a cartel. The earlier a cartel participant starts cooperating with the Bundeskartellamt, the more valuable their contribution is generally likely to be and the greater the recompense.

The leniency recipient that has been granted full immunity from fines is also privileged with regard to claims for damages under civil law (Section 33e GWB).

The leniency programme in brief

The first participant in an anti-competitive agreement to disclose a cartel of which the Bundeskartellamt was previously unaware is granted immunity from fines (“first come, first served” principle). Immunity from fines can also be granted at a later time if the Bundeskartellamt receives decisive evidence without which the existence of a cartel could not have been proven.

Members of a cartel who have coerced others to participate in the cartel are not entitled to immunity.

All other and subsequent leniency applicants can have their fines reduced by a maximum of 50 per cent, provided they cooperate with the Bundeskartellamt and provide evidence that is decisive for proving the offence.

The immunity from and reduction of fines is conditional on the leniency applicant’s continuous and full cooperation with the Bundeskartellamt throughout the proceedings.

Providing information as a consumer

Tip-offs about cartels

It is very difficult to uncover illegal cartels and prove the offence. The persons and companies involved in such activities are usually extremely secretive. This is why insider knowledge or information about such illegal agreements is very important for detecting and breaking up illegal cartels.

Concrete tip-offs are essential and can help prevent further harm. It would help us with our investigations if you could state your name and the nature of the relationship (business or private) between you and the cartel. Such tip-offs usually provide more information and are generally considered to be more reliable evidence than anonymous tip-offs.

Indications that a company may be abusing its market power

German as well as European competition law prohibits dominant companies from abusing their economic power to the detriment of others.

In practice it is not always easy to determine whether a company is powerful within the meaning of competition law and at what point its conduct becomes abusive (more information on the abuse of market power is available here).

However, you can help the Bundeskartellamt by blowing the whistle on potentially abusive practices of dominant companies.

If you have insider knowledge or information about infringements of competition law, please contact the Bundeskartellamt by phone, letter or email.

Providing anonymous tip-offs

Information provided by persons who disclose their identity and their relationship to the cartel is generally considered to be more reliable evidence and is thus more useful in prosecuting cartels. However, there can be situations where insiders with specific knowledge or information about a cartel might be reluctant to share this information for fear of negative consequences or even reprisals.

For this reason the Bundeskartellamt has set up an electronic whistleblowing system which can be used to report cartels anonymously.

There is no technical way to trace information back to you. The system has been certified by a publicly appointed and sworn expert and is also used as part of the anti-corruption schemes of well-known companies, by criminal police offices of the Länder and by police authorities. Further information is available at www.business-keeper.com.

Anonymous tip-offs can, of course, still be submitted by post or telephone, provided that the name and address, phone number or other identifiers relating to the informant are not revealed. Please note that it is up to the whistleblowers themselves to ensure their anonymity as the authority will have to keep a record of any identifiers (such as the telephone number shown on the screen), which is why anonymity cannot be guaranteed in such cases.