Austria: Passage of Cartel and Competition Law Amendment Act 2021

On 7 July 2021, the lower chamber of the Austrian parliament passes the Federal Act amending the Cartel Act 2005 and the Competition Act. Changes are made not only to the 2005 Cartel Act but also in the areas of abuse and merger control. In the area of merger control, a second control threshold is added. Namely, a merger shall be notified to the Federal Competition Authority (FCA) only if, during the last year, at least two of the involved entities each reported a domestic turnover of more than EUR 1 million. Previously, the only threshold was a domestic turnover of EUR 30 million by one of the companies. Secondly, the amendment introduces the Significant Impediment of Effective Competition (SIEC) test as an alternative tool for merger control that can be used in addition to the traditional market dominance test. Thirdly, the notion of dominance is expanded, including the reference to "intermediation services" that allow other companies to access purchasing and sales markets, the benefits stemming from network effects as well as the access to competition-sensitive data. Fourthly, the FCA is now entitled to actively investigate companies in multi-sided digital markets without having to prove an abuse of a dominant market position. All that is required, is that the Cartel Court declares a company to hold a dominant position. Finally, the Act implements the European Competition Network 2018 Directive and allows the pursuit of informal inquiries by the FCA.