Am 10.09.2021 ist die österreichische Novelle zum Kartell- und Wettbewerbsgesetz 2021 (BGBl. I 2021/176) in Kraft getreten.
Ziel dieser Novelle war u.a. die Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2019/1 des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates vom 11.12.2018 (zur Stärkung der Wettbewerbsbehörden der Mitgliedstaaten im Hinblick auf eine wirksamere Durchsetzung der Wettbewerbsvorschriften und zur Gewährleistung des reibungslosen Funktionierens des Binnenmarktes).
Die sich weiters aus der Novelle ergebenden wichtigsten Änderungen hat RA Georg Huber in seinem aktuellen Beitrag in der Rubrik „National Reports“ im Magazin „European Competition Law Review“ ((2021) 42 E.C.L.R., Issue 12) zusammengestellt. E.C.L.R. ist eine monatlich erscheinende Zeitschrift von Sweet & Maxwell/Thomson Reuters, die sich dem internationalen Kartell- und Wettbewerbsrecht widmet und stets umfassende Updates und Analysen liefert, welche die Entwicklungen im EU-Recht und nationalen Recht der EU-Mitgliedsstaaten sowie auch weiterer großer Handelsnationen abdecken. Die Veröffentlichung ist in englischer Sprache:
Amendment to the Austrian Cartel and Competition Act comes into force
On 10 September 2021, the amendment to the Cartel and Competition Act of 2021 (Gazette No. I 2021/176) entered into force.
Amongst other things, this amendment to the Cartel Act and the Competition Act aimed to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1 of 11 December 2018 (to empower the Member States’ competition authorities to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market).
Apart from that, the most important changes are the following:
- Corporate co-operation for the purpose of an ecologically sustainable or climate-neutral economy is exempted from the ban on cartels, as appropriate consumer participation is now explicitly present if the „benefit derived from the improvement of the production or distribution of goods or the promotion of technical or economic progress contributes significantly to an environmentally sustainable or climate-neutral economy.“ (Cartel Act s.2(1)).
- Expansion of the demonstrative list of market power criteria in Cartel Act No. 2 s.4(1) to include some typical facts concerning the platform economy. Specifically, intermediation power (intermediary services for the access of other entrepreneurs to procurement and sales markets), access to competition-relevant data and benefiting from network effects are explicitly mentioned as parameters worthy of consideration.
- Clarification that the concept of relative market power is independent of the concept of absolute market power and expansion of relative market power: uncertainties as to whether the relative market power previously regulated in Cartel Act s.4(3) constitutes a separate offence are to be addressed by transferring this paragraph to a separate s.4a. For intermediaries on multi-sided digital markets, not only the maintenance but also the dependence on the establishment of business relationships in the case of otherwise threatening serious economic disadvantages will, in future, fulfil the elements of relative market dominance and thus, in the case of an infringement, may lead to a cessation.
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Zum vollständigen Beitrag in der englischen Originalversion:
Amendment to the Austrian Cartel and Competition Act comes into force
