Christian Ritz

On 14 January 2021 the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) delivered its ruling on national reference in Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto , a key judgment on the legal end-point of single and continuous infringements in general and bid-rigging cartels in particular. In previous (...)

In previous decisions the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") had ruled that cartel infringements continue as long as they have economic effects. This was partly interpreted to mean that a bid-rigging cartel only ends with the final payment of the cartelized price or the competition of the (...)

With the announcement of the European Green Deal at the latest, the issue of sustainability and environmental protection has been pushed high up the agenda of competition law practitioners and scholars. With the recently published background paper of the German Working Group on Competition Law (...)

1. Introduction Determining the overcharge and, with that, the amount of cartel damages potentially suffered, is considered one of the most difficult aspects of cartel damages litigation in practice. The District Court of Dortmund (the “District Court”), known for its bold and innovative (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages in the amount of EUR 212 million against the former suppliers of a drugstore chain. The German Federal Cartel Office had fined these suppliers for anti-competitive exchange of information. Brief summary of judgment The Higher (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages in the amount of EUR 15 million against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the sugar cartel, which was established and fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 February 2014. The claims of (...)

I. Introduction On 2 April 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") delivered its judgment in Budapest Bank, another key ruling on the assessment of 'by object' restrictions of competition within the meaning of Article 101(1) TFEU. With this judgment, the (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant had bought 2,138 trucks mainly from the brand produced by the defendant. The trucks were brought to Nigeria. Claimant brought an action for damages in the amount of EUR 20.5 million arguing that the transaction was affected by the truck cartel the European (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant, a German undertaking offering enforcement of cartel damages claims (special purpose vehicle), brought an action for damages under assigned rights against participants of the truck cartel, which was fined by the European Commission in its decision of 19 July (...)

Brief summary of facts A regional railroad operator brought an action for damages against producers of railway track materials on the basis of their participation in the rail cartel, which had been established and fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 July 2013. The (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the truck cartel, which was established by the European Commission in its decision of 19 July 2016. Other alleged cartel participants were in the proceedings as (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant, a transport and logistics company, had acquired trucks from the defendant. Parts of those trucks were acquired directly by claimant and other parts were acquired through leasing companies. Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendants on the (...)

This article has been nominated for the 2020 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. Digital ubiquity, and the resulting rules, do not only concern tech giants. To the contrary, digital regulation is relevant for companies in all market sectors (...)

Brief summary of facts The defendant operates a radio station in Potsdam and uses the terrestrial transmitters operated by claimant for the transmission. In August 2015, the Federal Network Agency approved the fees of claimant in appeal for the period from 1 January 2016 onwards. For the (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages to the Regional Court based on purchases between 2005 and 2010 from the defendant. The defendant was later fined by the German Federal Cartel Office for participation in a cartel concerning the goods at stake. Therefore, claimant (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimants brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the rail cartel, which was established by the German Federal Cartel Office in its fining decisions of 3 and 5 July 2012. Until 2011, defendant No. 1 held 50% of the (...)

Brief summary of facts The defendants produce fire engines and superstructures for fire engines; the second defendant is the subsidiary company of the first defendant. Claimant bought a fire engine from the subsidiary in 2010 and two vehicles from the parent company in 2008 and 2010. The (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimants brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the rail cartel, which the German Federal Cartel Office had fined in its decision of 18 July 2013. This claim was partially affirmed by the Regional Court. The appeal (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant had leased a truck and brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of the participation of their parent company in the truck cartel, which the European Commission had established in its decision of 19 July 2016. Brief summary of (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant is the insolvency administrator of a company which procured 249 trucks of various manufacturers. On the basis of the European Commission’s fining decision of 19 July 2016, it brought an action for damages against one truck manufacturer. The defendant included (...)

Brief summary of facts A regional railroad operator brought an action for damages against several producers of railway track materials. The defendants participated in the rail cartel and had previously been fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 July 2013. Brief (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendants based on assigned claims. The defendants’ participation in the sugar cartel was established and fined by the German Federal Cartel Office in its decision of 18 February 2014. Under the assignment agreements, (...)

Brief summary of facts A regional railroad operator brought an action for damages against the defendant, a producer of railway track materials, on the basis of its participation in the rail cartel (Schienenfreunde-Kartell -"Friends of railroads"-cartel), which was established by the Germany (...)

Brief summary of facts The German Federal Cartel Office has imposed fines against the defendants which have become final. After the third defendant argued that there is no jurisdiction of the Regional Court of Mannheim, claimant applied to the Higher Regional Court for the competent court to (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendant based on a fining decision of the German Federal Cartel Office regarding the defendant’s practice to induce health insurance funds not to conclude contracts under the so-called shortened care path. The (...)

Brief summary of facts The defendants were addressees of the German Federal Cartel Office’s fining decision for participating in the so-called "Hema Vertriebskreis" cartel, in which they had informed each other about negotiations on conditions with food retailers. Claimant stated that its (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant bought railway track materials from one of the defendants in 2002 and 2003. The procurement contracts contained additional conditions which provided for a flat-rate damages compensation of 5% of the value of the contracts, with the reservation of higher (...)

Brief summary of facts Although the German Federal Cartel Office’s fining decision on the rail cartel was not issued against the defendant, a later fining decision was issued in 2016, which is not yet final. The claimant brought an action for damages due to increased prices due to the (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant is a transport and logistics company that bought two trucks in 2010. It brought an action for damages against the defendants on the basis of their participation in the truck cartel, which was established by the European Commission in its decision of 19 July (...)

I. Introduction On 12 June 2018, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) passed its long-awaited landmark decision in KZR 56/16 (Grauzementkartell II). The BGH held that Sec. 33 (5) of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) (today Sec. 33h (6) ARC), which (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant purchased grey cement from the defendant, two intervening parties and another entity between 1992 and 2002 for a total of EUR 10.67 million. In April 2003 the German Federal Cartel Office fined the defendant and other producers of cement for territorial and (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimants assert claims for damages against the defendants against whom the European Commission issued a fining decision in 2016. In preparation for their action for damages, claimants have sought from the defendants disclosure of the confidential and non-confidential (...)

I. Introduction On 6 December 2017, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down its long-awaited judgment on the permissibility of restrictions by suppliers of luxury goods to sell their products via third-party online platforms under Article 101 (1) TFEU. The question has been subject (...)

I. Introduction On 6 October, the German Federal Cartel Office (’FCO’) launched its new series of papers on ’Competition and Consumer Protection in the Digital Economy’. The first paper deals with ’Big Data and Competition’. The same day, a ’real-life example’ of competition enforcement in (...)

1. Introduction The question of whether cartel damages claims can be tried in arbitration under so-called ’standard’ arbitration agreements – meaning not explicitly referencing tortious or even specifically antitrust damages claims – has recently been the subject of much debate. Regarding (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendant on the basis of its participation in the rail cartel, which was established by the German Federal Cartel Office. Claimant had purchased railway track materials from the defendant during the cartel period. Two (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against three defendants on the basis of their participation in the sugar cartel, which was established by the German Federal Cartel Office in its fining decision of 18 February 2014. Claimant brought that action before the (...)

On 9 June 2017, the 9th amendment of the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (ARC) entered into effect introducing important amendments for companies to German competition law. The reform deals with two main issues: the implementation of the European Cartel Damages Actions Directive (...)

Germany suggests ramping up regulation of digital platforms by establishing Digital Agency with robust antitrust mandate* Will Germany establish a “Digital Agency” to monitor compliance with competition law rules in digital markets? Will a German “Digital Antitrust Enforcer” become a role (...)

Brief summary of facts Beginning in April 2005 the claimant tried to build an on-premise network, e.g. in supermarkets or gas stations, for brokering the local public lottery. The German Lotto and Toto Block, which is the umbrella organization of all public lottery companies owned and (...)

On 18 March 2016, the Regional Court of Berlin (RC Berlin) in Romano Pisciotti v. Federal Republic of Germany referred four questions to the European Court of Justice to seek guidance on whether Mr Pisciotti could argue that he had suffered discrimination and claim compensation from the German (...)

I. The Facts The parties argue in a civil law proceeding whether a manufacturer could make the supply of goods to an authorised distributor in a selective distribution system subject to a contractual obligation not to resell goods via online sales platforms such as Amazon and advertise them (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant seeks access to the files of an investigation concerning abuse of a dominant position carried out by the Hessian competition authority. Claimant is preparing a competition damages claim against a local energy supplier. Brief summary of judgment Anyone who (...)

I. The Facts The judgment by the Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf (HRC Düsseldorf) put an end to 10 years of on-going legal dispute that started after the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) disclosed various regional quota cartels, operating for a number of years until 2002, in the German (...)

Brief summary of facts Following the German Federal Cartel Office’s fine against cement manufacturers in 2003, claimant brought an action for damages in August 2005 against six cement manufacturers on the basis of claims assigned by 36 cement buying companies through assignment agreements. (...)

I. The Facts In 2012 and 2013 the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) imposed heavy fines on numerous companies and individuals for participating in a cartel in the rail industry. Among the companies fined were subsidiaries of the large German steel-producing group, ThyssenKrupp, which had to (...)

I. The Facts In 2009 Ms. Claudia Pechstein, a successful German speed skater, was banned by the International Skating Union (ISU) from all skating competitions for two years. Ms. Pechstein had tested positive in a doping control that was held during the ISU skating world cup in Norway. The (...)

I. The Facts In 2009, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) imposed fines on several companies in the mortar sector (FCO, 24 March 2009, B 1-40/06-U 21). The companies were accused of having participated in anti-competitive agreements on set-up fees for dry mortar silos. Among the companies (...)

I. The Facts The claimant seeks reimbursement from the two defendants for a fine imposed by the European Commission on all three companies for allegedly infringing European competition law rules. In 2009, the European Commission fined several suppliers of calcium carbide and magnesium (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant has been the sole shareholder of two subsidiaries that had already been participating for several months in cartel agreements. In 2009 the European Commission imposed a fine of EUR 13.3 million on all three undertakings jointly and severally. Claimant paid (...)

I. The Facts Following the European Commission’s decision to impose fines against a group of lift and escalator manufacturers for violating EU antitrust rules in February 2007 (COMP/38.823), several building contractors initiated civil damages claims before the Regional Court of Berlin at the (...)

I. The Facts Scandlines Deutschland GmbH (Scandlines) is the owner of the Puttgarden/Fehmarn ferry port in Germany and the sole provider of ferry services between Puttgarden and Rødby/Lolland in Denmark. Two Norwegian shipping companies sought access to the ferry port in Puttgarden in order (...)

I. The Facts In two proceedings in 2009 and 2010 the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) imposed total fines of about € 53,1 million (€ 39,69 million in 2009, and € 13,36 million in 2010) on several undertakings and individuals operating in the dry mortar sector. The judgement at hand concerns (...)

Brief summary of facts The defendant and nine other producers of carbonless copy paper formed an EU-wide cartel between 1992 and 1995 and were subsequently fined by the European Commission in 2001. ORWI was a producer of carbonless copy paper form sheets and had purchased input from a wholly (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages against the defendant on the basis of its participation in the truck cartel. Following the conclusion of the proceedings against the initial truck manufacturers addressees, the European Commission also adopted a decision against (...)

Brief summary of facts Claimant brought an action for damages after buying (from 1989 to 1999) vitamins and vitamin mixtures for the production of food products from the defendants at a total delivery price of over 9 million German mark. The defendants participated in a worldwide (...)