by Martina Maier, Philipp Werner and Robert Bäuerle
The German Federal Cartel Office has just published new Guidelines on the Setting of Fines for antitrust law infringements. With these guidelines, the German Federal Cartel Office departs from the method of setting fines used by the European Commission and other national competition authorities in Europe. As a result of the new guidelines, the potential liability for multi-product firms whose infringement concerned only a specific product in their portfolio and whose other products achieve significant turnover may increase.