Nowadays, merger control predominantly relies upon a strict analysis of the effects from merger and acquisitions on effective competition. However, there is scope for so-called public interest considerations in several European merger control regimes and recently a number of European politicians...

The ministerial proposal for a 10th amendment of the German competition law particularly addresses abuse control and seeks to tighten this pillar of competition policy against the background of the challenges from the digital economy. Next to extending the classic policy instruments of abuse...

On 9 June 2017, the 9th Amendment to the German Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen) entered into force. It transposes the EU Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions into German law. Yet, the German legislator also took the opportunity to implement some additional changes....

The European Directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity (2009/72/EC) requires all member states to 'ensure the implementation of intelligent metering systems' in order to foster a more active involvement of customers in the electricity market. Such intelligent metering...

The ubiquitous process of digitization changes economic competition on markets in several ways and leads to the emergence of new business models. The increasing roles of digital platforms as well as data-driven markets represent two relevant examples. These developments challenge competition...

The importance of digital platforms and related data-driven business models is ever increasing and poses challenges for the workability of competition in the respective markets (tendencies towards dominant platforms, paying-with-data instead of traditional money, privacy concerns, etc.). Due to...

This paper evaluates four publicly discussed policy options to mitigate market power in the German wholesale electricity market. These four options are: a regulatory solution favoured by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology, the implementation of a day-ahead flow-based market...

In some industries, monopoly is natural. One provider can serve the relevant demand cheaper than two or more firms. If the monopoly is not contestable, i.e. not controlled by a credible threat of entry, regulation is necessary. The essential facilities doctrine is one such regulatory tool. It...

Bei der Energiewende geht es aus ökonomischer Sicht darum, ihre klima- und umweltpolitisch Ziele so zu erreichen, dass auch die beiden anderen Eckpunkte des energiepolitischen Zieldreiecks, die Wirtschaftlichkeit und die Versorgungssicherheit, angemessene Berücksichtigung finden. Der...