Cartel law

 Cartel law

In light of the already existing and steadily increasing requirements of the legislature to sanction any behavior which is in violation of cartel law, enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), should know the boundaries which are set by cartel law. The Federal Cartel Office as well as the European cartel authorities investigate additional industries whose structure is characterized as medium-sized. Last but not least, the work of the cartel authorities is facilitated by the leniency policy.

In addition, it is from now on the responsibility of the companies to check whether their behavior is still in accordance with antitrust rules. A preliminary review by the cartel offices is no longer performed.

The risk of coming under scrutiny of investigations either indirectly by competitors or directly by the cartel authorities is thereby increased substantially.

The consequences of behavior relevant to cartel law which was either not known or incorrectly assessed, may result in significant fines or even the personal liability of the parties involved on civil and even criminal grounds.

In order to avoid any kind of responsibility for behavior in violation of cartel law we counsel and represent our clients in all applicable fields of the German and European cartel law. We represent our clients before both the Federal Cartel Office (p.r.n. State Cartel Office) and the European Commission as European guardian of the cartel law and the antitrust courts. Among others we advise on the following areas:

• Penalty proceedings
• Cooperation agreements
• Review and design of license contracts
• Review and design of distribution contracts
• State aids
• Prohibition proceedings
• Public procurement law
• Contract design under antitrust aspects