Newsbulletin December
This is our monthly summary of a selection of the latest public announcements and decisions concerning Austrian, German and EU competition law. Please bear in mind that we are unable to guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any information provided on third-party websites.
Authority |
| Date | Title | Abstract | Type of publication | |
AFCA (BWB) | ||||||
| 1.1 | 27/12/2022 | School Bag Cartel: Cartel Court finds infringement by Georg Hausmann KG upon AFCA application | "Following an application submitted by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA), the Cartel Court found an infringement by Georg Hausmann KG, issuing its decision on the 5th of December 2022 (25 Kt 8/22x). Georg Hausmann KG infringed cartel law by entering into illegal vertical agreements with manufacturers of school bags and school backpacks. The retailer had agreed on resale prices with manufacturers, setting fixed and minimum retail prices for these products and, in some cases, for accessories on the Austrian market. The infringement covered the period from January 2015 to October 2018." [See more] | Press release | |
| 1.2 | 22/12/2022 | Joiner cartel: Cartel Court fines Tischlerei Lechner GmbH EUR 100,000 | "In August 2022 the Austrian Federal Competition Authority applied for the imposition of a fine on Tischlerei Lechner GmbH for illegal price fixing, market divisions and the exchange of information with competitors, specifically by reaching agreement on which company would be the successful tenderer including submission of bogus offers in relation to calls for tenders for joinery/cabinetmaking contracts in Lower Austria and Vienna. The infringement covered the period from February 2011 up to and including May 2019. On 18 October 2022 the Cartel Court imposed a fine of EUR 100,000 as requested in AFCA’s application." [See more] | Press release | |
| 1.3 | 16/12/2022 | AFCA presents results of sector inquiry into EV charging infrastructure: 10 recommendations for fair competition | "The Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA) has filed two applications to impose a fine on ADOMO Beteiligung GmbH on 6 December, 2022." [See more] | Press release | |
| 1.4 | 16/12/2022 | Update: Cleared mergers eBay/Adevinta/eBay Classified. eBay fulfils some of its commitments | "In 2021 the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA) was notified of the mergers of Adevinta ASA/eBay Classifieds Group and eBay Inc./Adevinta ASA. AFCA’s investigation into the acquisition of the minority shareholding found that it would be disadvantageous for Austrian users of online platforms and their private sales (e.g. willhaben.at and ebay.at) as it would minimise mutual competitive pressure (see AFCA’s press release of 18 June 2021). In order to avoid disadvantages for users of online platforms and their C2C transactions, the merger could only be cleared after appropriate commitments had been made. These commitments included the requirement for eBay to reduce its financial interest in Adevinta to 33% or less by no later than 25 December, 2022. By selling a block of shares in Adevinta ASA, eBay has fulfilled Point 1 of its commitments. According to a press release issued by the e-commerce company, it sold 1,019,568 class A shares in Adevinta ASA through its subsidiary eBay International Holding GmbH on 28 November, 2022." [See more] | Press release | |
GFCO (BKartA) | ||||||
| 2.1 | 22/12/2022 | Bundeskartellamt – Review of 2022 | "In 2022 the Bundeskartellamt - imposed fines amounting to approx. 24 million euros for illegal cartel agreements | Press release | |
| 2.2 | 21/12/2022 | Improvements for publishers using Google News Showcase | "The Bundeskartellamt has concluded its proceeding against Google/Alphabet with regard to the “Google News Showcase” online news service after Google made a number of important adjustments to the benefit of publishers. | Press release | |
| 2.3 | 20/12/2022 | Exploitation of energy price caps prohibited – Bundeskartellamt starts to build the required organizational structure | "The Bundeskartellamt has started preparing its organisational structure by setting up a department for the enforcement of the prohibition to exploit the price caps on gas, electricity and district heating. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "We are entering a completely new field of activity. The goal here is not to protect competition, but first and foremost to protect tax payers and to prevent companies from raising their prices irrespective of procurement cost increases with the aim to exploit government subsidies. We have started to build the organisational framework we need and will now dedicate ourselves to this important task. This is a challenging task for the Bundeskartellamt, but in these extraordinary times, we need extraordinary measures." [See more] | Press release | |
| 2.4 | 16/12/2022 | XXXLutz´acquisition of shares in Braun Möbel-Center GmbH & Co. KG cleared | "The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the planned acquisition of 50 percent of the shares in Braun Möbel-Center GmbH & Co. KG, Reutlingen, by Würzburg-based ABRD Möbelhandels- und Beteiligungs GmbH (a member of the Austrian XXXLutz Group). Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "We scrutinised the merger project and requested information from a large number of furniture retailers both in Germany and abroad. Our focus was on competition in the area of furniture stores. We have concluded that although XXXLutz will strengthen its market position through the merger, the parties remain in competition with a number of other furniture stores in all affected regions." [See more] | Press release | |
EU COM | ||||||
| 3.1 | 20/12/2022 | Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Meta over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace | "The European Commission has informed Meta of its preliminary view that the company breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads. The Commission takes issue with Meta tying its online classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, to its personal social network, Facebook. The Commission is also concerned that Meta is imposing unfair trading conditions on Facebook Marketplace's competitors for its own benefit." [See more] | Press release | |
| 3.2 | 19/12/2022 | Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Meta over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace | "The European Commission has informed Meta of its preliminary view that the company breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads. The Commission takes issue with Meta tying its online classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace, to its personal social network, Facebook. The Commission is also concerned that Meta is imposing unfair trading conditions on Facebook Marketplace's competitors for its own benefit." [See more] | Press release | |
| 3.3 | 06/12/2022 | Competition: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Deutsche Bank and Rabobank over Euro-denominated bonds trading cartel case | "The European Commission has informed Deutsche Bank and Rabobank of its preliminary view that they breached EU antitrust rules by colluding to distort competition when trading Euro-denominated Sovereign, SSA (Supra-Sovereign, Foreign Sovereign, Sub-Sovereign/Agency), Covered and Government Guaranteed bonds. The Commission has concerns that between 2005 and 2016 the two banks, through some of their traders, exchanged commercially sensitive information and coordinated their pricing and trading strategies when trading these bonds in the secondary market in the European Economic Area (‘EEA'). These exchanges would have taken place mainly through emails and online chatroom communications." [See more] | Press release | |
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