GCR Enforcer Hub Germany: Economist Perspective
Our experts Linda, Nadine and Alia share their knowledge on Germany’s dealings with antitrust law and updated the economist’s perspective of GCR’s Enforcer Hub. With detailed contributions direct from over 100 competition enforcement agencies around the world, GCR’s Enforcer Hub profiles both the legal and economic functions of the agencies, alongside enforcement history, strengths, and priorities.
What’s it about?
The implementation of the 10th amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) – also referred to as the “ARC Digitalisation Legislation” – on 19 January 2021[1] extended the enforcement power of the German Competition Authority with respect to digital platforms. Subsequently, the German Competition Authority decided that Alphabet/Google, Meta/Facebook and Amazon do indeed possess “paramount significance for competition across markets” (PSICAM) and, thus, are subject to Germany’s extended abuse control. Against that background, the German Competition Authority opened several proceedings against the leading online platforms, forging ahead in the race of European competition authorities to regulate the behaviour of Big Tech companies and to ensure fair competition (ie, a “level playing field”) in the digital economy. In the article, we will summarise the opened proceedings, which range from, for example, potentially insufficient choice options for consumers regarding Google’s data processing terms to the assessment of Apple’s tracking rules for third-party apps.