This article looks at the status of the German federal government's efforts to create a digital regulatory framework in antitrust law now that official publication of its 10th amendment of the German Competition Act (GWB) is imminent following a mid-October "leak" of the amendment.
In addition to attempting create a focused, proactive and digital competition law 4.0, the amendment (GWB Digitization Act), also serves to implement the ECN+ Directive, which is intended to both harmonize standards for enforcing European competition law in the member states and facilitate cooperation among the national competition authorities. In particular, the rules on abuse of market power, merger control and civil damages will be amended.
The German government desire to better regulate the market power of large digital groups seems to be the major motivation behind these and other changes. So, while designating the amendment as "GWB Digitization Act" sounds good, the German competition act should not be digitized, but rather made fit for the challenges of digitization.
» Read the article (only available in German).
Deutscher AnwaltSpiegel 24/2019, page 3-5
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