Frank Röhling is a member of Freshfields’ antitrust, competition and trade (ACT) practice group and specialises in European, German and French cartel law. He has particular experience in the following sectors : food and beverages, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, chemicals, automotive, construction and real estate. Frank was born in Münster, Germany, in 1971. He obtained his legal education at the universities of Saarbrücken, Germany ; Westminster, UK ; and Montpellier, France. He earned a Doctor of Laws degree (Dr iur) for his thesis on European merger control law. His national and international antitrust law experience includes working as a stagiaire at Barennes & Associés law firm in Paris (1998), at the German Federal Cartel Office in Bonn (1999), and at the European Commission’s Directorate General in Brussels (2000) ; he also spent six months in the legal department at Nestlé’s headquarter in Switzerland (2004). Frank frequently publishes articles on cartel law in German, French and English. Frank joined the firm in 2002 and speaks German, English and French.
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On 19 December, the German Government tightened further its rules on foreign investments in German businesses by non-EU/non-EFTA investors. No parliamentary approval was needed and the reforms entered into force on 29 December 2018. The reform lowers significantly the threshold at which the (...)
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The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled on 6 December 2017 that suppliers may prohibit the sales of their products via third-party online platforms such as Amazon or eBay to preserve the luxury image of their goods . Such restrictions do not infringe the EU prohibition on (...)
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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 (...)
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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 (...)
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On 9 June 2009, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) cleared the creation of a marketing joint venture between two dairy companies, Humana Milchindustrie GmbH (Humana) and Nordmilch AG (Nordmilch), that will pool sales of their respective dairy products. 1. Confirmation of settled market (...)
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On 2 July 2009, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) published an interim report on the inquiry it launched in May 2008 on the fuel sector in Germany. The report, published 6 months after the initially planned date, presents the first results of a very thorough market investigation which had (...)
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In over 35 years of its existence, the German merger control regime has gained a strong reputation all over the world due to its influential role in post-war Europe, high rate of enforcement and the important place held by the competition authority in charge of its enforcement, the (...)
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In a judgment of 11 November 2008, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) (Federal Court) upheld a previous decision of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (Higher Regional Court) which had itself confirmed a decision of the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) blocking E.ON’s plan (...)
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With its judgment of 11 November 2008, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) (Federal Court) has opened a new chapter in the never ending judicial saga relating to the German edition of the scientific magazine National Geographic, which has already found itself at the centre (...)
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In over 35 years of its existence, the German merger control regime has gained a strong reputation all over the world due to its influential role in post-war Europe, high rate of enforcement and the important place held by the competition authority in charge of its enforcement, the (...)
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On 30 June 2008, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) cleared a merger between two German food discount retailers, subject to divestiture conditions . A high-profile case On 28 December 2007, the German retail giants EDEKA Zentrale AG & Co. KG (EDEKA) and Tengelmann (...)
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On 13 May 2008, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) issued a communication in which it clarified the way it intends to deal with post-closing filings of notifiable concentrations. The FCO clearly states that, in the future, it will not deal with such late notifications within its normal (...)
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On 27 February 2008 the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) prohibited the acquisition by A-TEC Industries AG (A-TEC), a Vienna-based international industrial group, of 13.75 % of the shares in Norddeutsche Affinerie AG (NA), a publicly listed German manufacturer and recycler of copper. Since (...)
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The German parliament voted on a reform to the Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) which is inter alia aimed at improving the fight against price abuses by companies in the energy and food trade sectors. Both reforms are unrelated to each other even though both were intensively (...)
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A recent blocking decision against a merger between RWE and SaarFerngas, a Court decision upholding a blocking decision against E.ON (See Dr. Frank Röhling, Bertrand Guerin, The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court upholds a Bundeskartellamt decision blocking an energy merger (E.ON/ Stadtwerke (...)
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A recent blocking decision against a merger between RWE and SaarFerngas (See Dr. Frank Röhling, Bertrand Guerin, The German Federal Cartel Office prohibits further merger of a dominant player in the electricity and gas sector (RWE/SaarFerngas), e-Competitions, July 2007-I, a Court decision (...)
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Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), 31 May 2007, Gesellschaft für Glasrecycling und Abfallvermeidung mbH a. o., Case n° B 4 - 37203 - Kc - 1006/06 German used packaging recycling systems are currently under the scrutiny of the competition authorities. One week after the Court of First (...)
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Introduction Section 37(1) of the Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC) defines four events that constitute a concentration within the meaning of the German merger control regime, and thus trigger the obligation to notify the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) of a transaction, provided that (...)
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In 2006, one of the main competition law foci in relation to the energy sector has been the relationship of energy suppliers with their customers. This article proposes to examine the draft amendment to the German Act against Restraints of Competition (the ARC) published by the German Federal (...)
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Background information on CO2 emission allowances The EU system for CO2 emission allowance trading has been in operation since 2005. Since then, companies active in CO2 emitting industries are obliged to use emission certificates for their production. These certificates are allocated free of (...)
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1. Introduction In the past few years, the German hospital sector has undergone a process of consolidation due to the privatisation of a large number of hospitals held by local communities or the regional federal states (Länder). The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) cleared the vast (...)
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On 30 May 2006, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) issued a statement of objections against regional lottery operators and their German association due to the alleged infringement of European and German competition law. These regional lottery operators are wholly owned and controlled by (...)
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German Federal Cartel Office finds Soda Club guilty of Article 82 Abuse In a decision of 9 February 2006, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) found that Soda Club (“SC”), a producer of water carbonating systems, had violated Article 82 EC and section 19 of the Act against Restraints of (...)
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In its ongoing efforts to open the German wholesale market to new gas suppliers, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) issued a statement of objections against E.ON Ruhrgas (“E.ON”), Germany’s largest gas supplier, in December 2005. According to this statement of objections and the (...)
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In September 2005, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) imposed a fine of an undisclosed amount against Schlecker, the largest German drugstore chain, for offering digital photo services to end-customers below cost price. According to Section 20(4) of the German Act against Restraints of (...)
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On 1 July 2005, major changes to German competition law entered into force. The seventh amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (“ARC”) aims to bring Germany into line with the modernised EU competition law rules. Damages actions The amended section 33 ARC deals with (...)
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On 11 February 2005, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) prohibited Deutsche Post AG’s (“DPAG”) practice of granting rebates for mail preparation services for letters below 100gr exclusively to its large direct customers. Mail preparation includes the collection of letters, sorting them (...)
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Following the European Commission’s decision regarding the vitamin cartel (Commission Decision 2003/2/EC, of 21 November 2001, relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/E-1/37.512 - Vitamins), OJEC L 6, 10 January 2003, pp. (...)
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Le présent article se propose d’exposer les importants développements récemment réalisés en Allemagne relatifs aux pratiques de prix de revente imposés. La poursuite de ces pratiques se révèle depuis deux ans une des priorités du Bundeskartellamt, l’autorité de concurrence allemande. En 2009, (...)
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Cet article se propose de rappeler les principales règles du contrôle des concentrations allemand à la lumière de la pratique décisionnelle récente du Bundeskartellamt et de la jurisprudence des instances de recours. Dans un premier temps, nous analyserons en quoi le domaine d’applicabilité (...)
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Le Parlement allemand vient de procéder à une nouvelle réforme de la Loi relative aux restrictions de concurrence afin, entre autres, de lutter contre les abus dans la fixation des prix par certaines entreprises du secteur de l’énergie et de la vente alimentaire. En ce qui concerne le secteur (...)
