German court excludes third party access to leniency applications in cartel cases *

European Union, Germany - February 6 2012
On 18 January 2012, the Amtsgericht (District Court) Bonn ruled that under German law third parties do not have access to the leniency application (ie corporate statements and evidence annexed thereto) a cartel member submitted to the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office - FCO).

Co-authors: Falk Schöning, Dr. Martin Sura.

German cartel office imposes fines for resale price maintenance *

Germany - November 18 2009
In two recent decisions the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) held that certain business strategies to maintain or increase retail prices constitute an illegal resale price maintenance (RPM) in violation of German and EU antitrust laws.

Co-authors: Falk Schöning.

German Cartel Office imposes fines for gun jumping *

Germany - May 26 2009
Within the last six months the German Federal Cartel Office imposed heavy fines on US nutrition and pet food producer Mars and a German press publishing house for allegedly breaching German merger control rules by closing transactions before merger control clearance ("gun jumping").

Co-authors: David Cardwell, Falk Schöning, Catriona Hatton.

European Commission state aid simplification package *

European Union - May 20 2009
State aid procedures have often been criticised for their long duration and lack of predictability.

Co-authors: John Pheasant, Suzanne Rab, Michel Debroux, Catriona Hatton.