Germany

On March 18, 2025, the German Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ”) confirmed the designation of Apple Inc. (“Apple”) as a company of “paramount significance for competition across markets” (“PCMS”) under Section 19a(1) of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (“ARC”) which enables the German Federal Cartel Office’s (“FCO”) to prohibit specific conduct of Apple in the future.[1]  This marks the FCJ’s second ruling in which the highest court affirmed the designation decision of the FCO under Section 19a(1) ARC.[2]

On February 26, 2025 the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal (“DCA”) dismissed a broad application of Germany’s transaction value threshold.[1]  The threshold introduced in 2017 is a “safety net” for exceptional cases, not an additional standard aimed to lower the threshold for merger review.  Companies in mature markets with established revenue streams face reduced risk of mandatory filings, even for high-value acquisitions.

On November 29, 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) concluded that Microsoft’s hiring of nearly all of Inflection AI, Inc.’s (“Inflection”) employees together with agreements on financing and the use of Inflection’s intellectual property amounted to a “concentration” under German merger control law.  However, due to the lack of “substantial domestic operations” at the time of the acquisition, the FCO declined jurisdiction to review the case.[1]

On June 17, 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of Olink Holding AB (publ) (“Olink”) by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (“Thermo Fisher”) following the FCO’s first in-depth investigation of a case caught by the transaction value threshold.[1]

On 27 May 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) gave the green light for Johnson & Johnson’s (“J&J”) 13.1 billion US dollar acquisition of Shockwave Medical (“Shockwave”).[1]  The decision follows an in-depth investigation into the acquisition’s potential impact on competition and innovation, particularly in the burgeoning field of cardiovascular disease treatment, one of the fastest‑growing global med-tech markets.

On June 10, 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) imposed fines of almost €16 million on AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH (“AVM”) and one of its staff representatives for vertical price fixing (so-called Resale Price Maintenance or “RPM”) with six electronics retailers.[1] 

On July 27, 2023[1], the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf ruled on the question of whether a company that has been fined under antitrust law can hold itself harmless by seeking indemnification from the statutory representatives in its managing corporate body.  While the Higher Regional Court rejected a claim for reimbursement of the fine imposed on the company by the German Federal Cartel Office and the costs of the fine proceedings, it confirmed the personal liability of the company’s statutory representatives in its managing corporate body for any consequential damages arising from the antitrust infringement, e.g., as a result of claims for damages by third parties.

On July 5, 2023, the German Parliament (Bundestag) passed the Competition Enforcement Act, amending the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (“ARC”) for the 11th time (“11th Amendment”).  This comes only two and a half years after the last significant amendment in 2021, which granted the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) unprecedented investigative powers.[1]  The 11th Amendment once again equips the FCO with additional enforcement powers.

On May 26, 2023, the first reading of the Government’s amendment to the draft of the Competition Enforcement Act dated April 5, 2023 (“Government Draft 11th Amendment”) was held in Parliament.  The Competition Enforcement Act will amend the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (“ARC”) for the 11th time.[1]  The Government has proposed further changes to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action’s draft published in September 2022 (“Draft 11th Amendment”).[2]  This blog post outlines the changes proposed by the government to the Draft 11th Amendment, following on from an earlier blog post on the Draft 11th Amendment (available here).