On February 17, 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published its third report on market power in the electricity generation sector (“Market Power Report”), analyzing the competitive landscape from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.[1] Again, the FCO published its results one year earlier than statutorily required because of the continuing phase-out of nuclear and coal energy.
On February 11, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) approved the acquisition of OMV Retail Deutschland GmbH’s (“OMV”) filling station network by the British convenience retailer EG Group Limited (“EG Group”). The FCO’s approval is subject to the prior divestiture of 25 EG Group filling stations and 23 OMV filling stations in southern Germany.[1]
On February 8, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) preliminarily found that Deutsche Lufthansa AG (“Lufthansa”) has to provide feeder flights for Condor Flugdienst GmbH’s (“Condor”) long-haul flights.[1] The FCO invited the parties to comment on its preliminary findings before issuing its decision.
On February 3, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) declared that it will not—at this stage—launch an investigation in the area of Domain Name System (“DNS”) services.[1] Following indications from market participants, the FCO conducted a preliminary investigation lasting several months, but found that the suspicion of anticompetitive conduct in this field has not been substantiated.
On January 18, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office published a press release of its review of two sustainability initiatives. Only a week later, on January 25, 2022, the FCO provided further guidance for the implementation of sustainability initiatives under competition law: It concluded that a proposed agreement in the milk sector to introduce surcharges for the benefit of milk producers was anticompetitive.
With the examination of two sustainability cooperations concerning living wages in the banana sector as well as the expansion of an animal welfare initiative, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) provided further guidance for the implementation of sustainability initiatives in the food retail industry.
Between January 18 and January 20, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) raided the German premises of four associations and several manufacturers of electrical cables and wires in relation to alleged coordination of industry-standard metal surcharges.
On January 19, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) launched a new sector inquiry into the waste management sector in preparation to order Rethmann SE & Co. KG (“Rethmann Group”) to notify future acquisitions of smaller waste management companies.[1]
On January 19, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) closed its proceedings on furniture retailer KHG GmbH & Co. KG’s (Krieger/Höffner Group, “KHG”) envisaged accession to the purchasing cooperation Bedarfsgüter Großhandelsgesellschaft für Wohnung GmbH (“Begros”) which it had initiated in early 2021. In the end, KHG and Begros were able to dispel the FCO’s concerns by offering substantial modifications to their initial plans.[1]
On January 17, 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published a case summary on its two consecutive in-depth-investigations of automotive supplier Dana Inc.’s (“Dana”)[1] proposed acquisition of (a portion of) Modine Manufacturing Company’s (“Modine”)[2] light-vehicle thermal business.[3] The parties first notified the acquisition in December 2020.