Germany: Adopted Amendment to Competition Act amending merger control regulation

On 14 January 2021, the Amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB - Digitalisierungsgesetz) is adopted. The Amendment aims to create a competition regime for the digital economy, introducing new merger control regulation. Specifically, the turnover thresholds concerning the duty to notify the competition authority are raised. Notification will only be mandatory for mergers where one of the companies involved has an annual local turnover of over EUR 50 million (previously EUR 25 million) and another merging company has an annual turnover in Germany of over EUR 17.5 million (previously EUR 5 million). Furthermore, the Amendment allows the Bundeskartellamt to request merger notification from companies operating in certain economic sectors even if turnover thresholds are not reached.