We are delighted to share with you the latest update of our report on Foreign Investment: Rising Tides of Politics in Regulation. This edition has been fully updated to reflect the tabling of the National Security and Investment Bill before the UK Parliament, which seeks to introduce a new distinct regime and standalone powers for … Read more

The German FCO has not lost its appetite to take on major tech companies. Today, it has announced that it has initiated abuse proceedings against Facebook to examine the linkage between Oculus virtual reality products and Facebooks’ social network. Read more

The Regional Court of Mannheim delivered its judgment in a much noticed patent infringement case in Germany. The dispute is noteworthy not only because of its economic importance but in particular also because the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) filed an amicus curiae brief in the dispute, which rarely ever happens, and suggested that the … Read more

The German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) has launched a sector inquiry in the provision and marketing of publicly accessible charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. According to the FCO’s president, Andreas Mundt, the FCO has received several complaints about prices and conditions at the charging stations. Read more

We are delighted to share with you our newly updated report on Foreign Investment: Rising Tides of Politics in Regulation, which reflects a swathe of recent changes to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regimes around the world against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. FDI filings have become an increasingly important piece of the regulatory jigsaw … Read more

Introduction On 23 June 2020, the German Federal Supreme Court (FSC) overturned the temporary injunction granted by the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in August 2019, which suspended the German Federal Cartel Office’s (FCO’s) landmark abuse of dominance decision against Facebook, pending final determination of the company’s appeal (see our earlier blog post). In its February … Read more

Germany is continuing to tighten its FDI regime: A current amendment to the German Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance (AWV) brings new filing obligations for several case groups. The AWV amendment clearly focuses on the health sector as a direct consequence of the COVID-19-pandemic. It aims to contribute to the permanent maintenance of a functioning … Read more

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has drafted an amendment to the German Act against Restraints on Competition (ARC) that will, inter alia, significantly extend the deadlines for Phase I and II proceedings under the German merger control regime in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This will have some important practical … Read more