THE 11th AMENDMENT TO THE ARC AND GERMANY´S NEW COMPETITION TOOL

Abstract

On 5 April 2023, the German government, represented by Robert Habeck (Vice Chancellor and Minister for the Economy and Climate Protection, The Greens) and Marco Buschmann (Minister for Justice, Liberal Democrats (FDP)) unveiled the Government Bill (RegE in German) to reform the Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) in a press conference [in German, but subtitles can be auto-translated]. In the press conference, Vice Chancellor Habeck called the reform the ‘biggest reform in decades’, ‘perhaps the biggest reform since Ludwig Erhard’. Even if one does not want to go as far as that, it is clear that the planned reforms are not just tinkering around the edges. Prof. Dr. Florian Wagner-von Papp explains the planned reform here.