The upcoming ninth amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, ARC), which has already been approved by the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and the German Federal Council (Bundesrat), is expected to enter into force shortly. The new law is tailored to adapt German competition law to the specific features of digital markets, for instance, when assessing the market power of digital platforms. The traditional turnover-based concepts proved inadequate in capturing the relevance of these businesses in the market, in particular in the light of commercially exploiting big data. The growing relevance of big data, with consumers nowadays “paying” for the services digital platforms provide “free” of charge, has created the need to refine the ARC. Read more on our sister blog Global Regulatory Enforcement Law Blog.
