Act Against Restraints Of Competition Amendment: "Digitization" In Competition, Antitrust And Merger Control

On January 19, 2021, the 10th amendment to the Act Against Restraints of Competition ("GWB"), the "GWB Digitization Act," came into force. The central regulatory subject of the amendment is the new abuse control for the digital economy. A dominant market position of a company that permits intervention by the antitrust authorities can now also lie in access to competitively relevant data, or in the position of a company as an intermediary on multilateral markets, especially on Internet platforms. The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, "BKartA") decides which companies have an overriding importance for competition across markets, e.g., through their access to data and resources, through network effects, or due to their strategic position. This will primarily affect the major technology groups Google, Facebook and Amazon. What is new is that preventive measures can now also be taken against these companies after a corresponding market position has been