Policy Brief | Issue 4 | 29 January 2020

In its fourth policy brief, the Monopolies Commission discusses the draft bill for a Tenth Act to amend the Act against Restraints of Competition for a focused, proactive and digital competition law 4.0 (Competition Law Digitisation Act).

• The new types of abuse for companies with paramount cross-market significance should not be introduced in haste.
• In the case of exploitative abuses, a causal link between dominant position and abusive behavior should still be present.
• The companies affected by the proceedings should be required by law to cooperate more strongly if effective enforcement by the antitrust authorities cannot otherwise be ensured.
• An increase in the merger notification thresholds and the associated lowering of competition protection should be combined with a targeted increase of merger review in regional markets.

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Sector Report pursuant to Sec. 44 of the Postal Services Act, Bonn, 3 December 2019

• Competition on the letter market remains insufficient, while it is intensifying on the parcel market
• Control of abuse of dominance on the letter market should be intensified
• Consumer protection is to be strengthened by improving the approval procedure for letter postage and by introducing binding conciliation procedures

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Sector Report pursuant to Sec. 121(2) of the German Telecommunications Act, Bonn, 3 December 2019

• The priority of private investment in broadband deployment should be maintained. State aid should be moderate and targeted where deployment by market players does not take place.
• The planned fixed-network subsidies in "grey areas" need to be adapted in order to prevent large-scale crowding out of private investments in the fixed network. Gigabit vouchers should be used to strengthen demand.
• To improve mobile communications coverage, the deployment in previously unserved areas should be put out to tender in a competitive procedure.

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