Germany Adopts Competition Enforcement Act

On July 7, 2023, the German parliament adopted the "Competition Enforcement Act." The new law still lacks final approval by the Bundesrat, which will not be granted before the end of September, but this is only a formality. It marks the 11th amendment to the Act against Restraints on Competition (ARC11), Germany's national antitrust law. ARC11 has three main topics. ARC11 enhances the powers of the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, FCO) to act upon findings of its sector inquiries; it facilitates the skimming of profits generated by anti-competitive conduct; and it allows for public and private enforcement of the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA, Regulation 2022/1925) in Germany. With that, ARC11 can have an impact on a broad array of businesses that act across all industry sectors in Germany—regardless of market position, size, and even where companies act fully legal.