German Antitrust Law Amendment Entered Into Force: "Digitalization Act" Establishes New Antitrust Rules For The Digital Economy

The 10th amendment to the German Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC)-also called the "Digitalization Act"-became effective on January 19, 2021. In a previous alert, we discussed the key aspects of the Digitalization Act, which focus on the digital economy and related antitrust issues. The most notable changes to the ARC relate to the rules on abuse of dominance by large digital platforms and to merger control:

• German Parliament has added more specifics on the rules banning anti-competitive practices by large digital platforms.
• German domestic turnover thresholds for merger control have been increased significantly.

This follow-up note recaps the key points and updates for amendments that were introduced in the parliamentary process.