BUNDESKARTELLAMT EXTENDS THE PROCEEDINGS ON THE FACEBOOK/OCULUS CASE IN THE SCOPE OF NEW RULES FOR DIGITAL COMPANIES

8.02.2021

As known, the German Federal Cartel Office (“Bundeskartellamt”) initiated proceedings against Facebook due to the linkage between Oculus and the Facebook network in December 2020. However, regarding the fact that important changes have been made to competition law with regard to digital companies which entered into force on January 2021, the Bundeskartellamt decided to extend the scope of its proceedings, Therefore, first proceeding based on new rules for digital companies had been started.

Amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition had specially focused on the modernisation of the abuse control. So that, with the new changes, the Bundeskartellamt will now be able to intervene at an early stage in cases where competition is threatened by certain large digital companies. As a preventive measure, the Bundeskartellamt can prohibit certain types of conduct by companies which, due to their strategic position and their resources, are of paramount significance for competition across markets.

Facebook is a very suitable example for the Amendment since its strong market presence with the eponymous social network, WhatsApp and Instagram. For this reason, Facebook/Oculus case is the first case that the Bundeskartellamt is putting the new provisions to use.

You can find the Bundeskartellamt’s statement here.

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Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr