The Higher Regional Court Düsseldorf halts a Federal Cartel Office decision to unwind a 17 year old joint venture pending the outcome of an appeal against the decision (Chemie-Vertrieb)

A German appeal court has halted a Federal Cartel Office (FCO) decision to unwind a 17 year old joint venture until the outcome of an appeal against the decision is known. In its interim decision, the court took the opportunity to: – set out the requirements under German law for the FCO to find that joint venture parents have co-ordinated their behaviour – confirm that the European Commission’s “Notice on Restrictions directly related and necessary to a Concentration” must be taken into account under German law relating to this issue – emphasise that a joint venture can be seen as part of the corporate structure of its parent companies and therefore that certain restrictions as between parent and joint venture could potentially escape competition law scrutiny altogether. However, the