What happens in case of breach of competition law?
In case of breaching of competition law, there are prosecution proceedings that need to be take into consideration. This abovementioned paragraph has as original source the official website of the German Bundeskartellsamt.
Effective cartel prosecution
The Bundeskartellamt has always given high priority to the prosecution and punishment of illegal agreements, especially price and quota agreements and customer or territorial allocation agreements (‘hardcore cartels’).
In recent years the intensity and effectiveness of cartel prosecution has been further improved:
- 2000 Introduction of the Leniency Programme
- 2002 Creation of the Special Unit for Combating Cartels (SKK)
- 2005 Creation of a Decision Division specialising in cartel prosecution
- 2006: Fundamental review of the Leniency Programme
- 2006 Introduction of Guidelines for the setting of fines
- 2008 and 2011: Creation of two further Decision Divisions specialising in cartel prosecution
- 2012 Introduction of an anonymous whistle blowing system
- 2013: Review of the Guidelines for the setting of fines
- 2017: Legislative loophole in the liability for fines is closed Implementation of the EU Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions
- 2021: Codification of the leniency programme
What happens in case of breach of competition law?
