***UPDATE*** Competition Law in a State of Emergency in times of COVID-19

Brief update: As of today (29 May 2020), the review deadlines for German merger control proceedings are extended for transactions notified in the period from 1 March to 31 May 2020.

The respective law comes into force today, after being published in the Official Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) yesterday (so called "Act to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19-pandemia for competition law and self-governing organisations in the economy").

The review deadlines for merger control proceedings by the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) are now extended to up to two months (Phase I, i.e. the regular review period) and up to six months (Phase II, i.e. the in-depth review period that is initiated after Phase I for more complex or even problematic mergers). However, as stated several times by officials of the authority, easy transaction can be expected to be cleared way earlier than the end of the deadline (even within a month in easy Phase I-cases).

We already reported on the draft law and the proposed ease of the payment obligations for cartelists (interest on antitrust fines are deferred until 30 June 2021), see here, also on developments in other jurisdictions.

For further inquiries please contact:

Dr Sebastian Felix Janka, LL.M. (Stellenbosch)
T +49 89 23714 10915
Sebastian.Janka@Luther-Lawfirm.com

Roland Schiller
T +49 89 23714 20967
Roland.Schiller@Luther-Lawfirm.com

David Wölting
T +49 211 5660 24990
David.Woelting@Luther-Lawfirm.com