Johannes Zöttl focuses on antitrust enforcement proceedings before the German Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission as well as merger reviews. He has worked extensively with companies in the chemical and IT industries and has led high-profile internal investigations in the automotive industry. He has particular experience dealing with cross-border mergers and acquisitions subject to review by multiple antitrust authorities around the world.
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In Short The Situation : According to the European Commission ("EC"), an increasing number of competitively significant transactions have evaded merger notification because one or both of the transacting parties (but typically a small, high value target) did not meet EC or any Member State (...)
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In Short The Development : The Bundestag, the German legislature, amended Germany’s antitrust laws to include special competition rules for digital platform "companies with overwhelming importance for competition across multiple markets." The amendments, known as the GWB Digitization Act or ARC (...)
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The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt or "FCO") has published guidance on the requirements placed on remedies in merger control and their implementation. Remedies are an important instrument in merger control practice. They can enable the clearance of a merger under conditions and (...)
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In a decision dated 30 April 2014, but published only recently, the German Federal Court of Justice (“FCJ”) struck down an agreement between two companies not to “poach” each others’ employees as violating the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch, “HGB”). However, the FCJ also clarified under (...)
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This article has been nominated for the 2014 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. The Regional Court of Düsseldorf, Germany, has asked the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") to clarify a number of questions at the intersection of EU (...)
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The German Federal Court of Justice ("BGH") has handed down a decision that is likely to have a significant impact on the setting of cartel fines in Germany, potentially reducing the maximum cartel fine for some defendants. The decision deals with fines imposed on a number of German cement (...)
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A new supra-national African competition law regime, the COMESA Competition Commission ("CCC"), began operations in January 2013. This new regime includes new merger control regulations likely to have a significant impact on international businesses with local operations in the region. The CCC (...)
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The General Court of the European Union (General Court) has annulled a decision by the EU Commission (EC) that denied access by a private plaintiff to the EC’s files in cartel proceedings (Case T 437/08 – CDC Hydrogene Peroxide vs European Commission). The plaintiff requested access to those (...)
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The German government has published a draft bill that will amend the German Act on Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, GWB). According to the draft, the government believes that current version of the GWB has proved itself effective in practice and only minor (...)
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The German Federal Civil Court (BGH) has held that both direct and indirect purchasers may sue for antitrust damages, but defendants may raise the passing-on defense. Through the passing-on defense, defendants try to demonstrate that plaintiffs suffered no financial harm, as they passed on the (...)
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On March 17, 2011, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) rejected plans by German broadcasting groups RTL and Pro7Sat1 to launch a joint venture for the creation and operation of an online video platform. This decision illustrates how in Europe, particularly in Germany, antitrust (...)
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On March 3, 2011, Advocate General (AG) Mazák delivered an opinion to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique SAS (PFDC). PFDC, a French manufacturer of cosmetics and personal care products, prohibited its retailers from selling via the Internet. AG Mazák advised the (...)
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In a decision of 10 February 2011, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) ruled that companies can bring court action the challenge state aid granted to their competitors. Companies doing business in Germany will in the future have to ensure that all their transactions (...)
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On April 20, 2010, the European Commission adopted a new Regulation (No 330/2010) listing the conditions under which vertical restraints are exempt from the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements (defined by Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, « TFEU », (...)
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Germany has introduced a new threshold for premerger notifications to its merger control system, effective tomorrow, 25 March 2009. This amendment to the German Act Against Restraints Of Competition (ARC) is expected to reduce the number of merger control filings in Germany dramatically. In (...)
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