The Bundestag has strengthened the Bundeskartellamt’s action against behavior by companies that is harmful to consumers. The office is given new powers – including breaking up corporations.
Additional rights for the cartel authorities are intended to make competition in the German economy fairer. This goal is pursued by a reform of competition law, which the Bundestag passed with the votes of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP. The Left also voted in favor, while the CDU/CSU and AfD voted against.
This extends the Bundeskartellamt’s rights to identify distortions of competition in certain sectors and to order countermeasures. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, it is the largest reform in this area in decades.
Holistic control
In the future, the authority should also look specifically at disruptions in markets, not just at individual companies. It also makes it easier for the state to skim off profits that a company has made by violating antitrust law. With better handling, profits should be withdrawn again. In extreme cases, corporations should also be able to be broken up.
criticism from the opposition
The chair of the SME and Economic Union, Gitta Connemann (CDU), described the project as “poison for Germany as a business location”. In the future, the state could intervene in the market without companies being guilty of anything.
The coalition rejected this. “Competition in a country ensures a country’s competitiveness,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen). The reform is therefore contributing to the performance of the German economy.