Germany: Regulator finalizes proposed changes in competition rules

Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier is finalizing a legislative proposal to change competition rules at home, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday, October 8today.

Altmaier will present the draft proposals to Germany’s college of ministers for consultation on Tuesday, the spokesperson said, adding that the final version will take two weeks “at least” before reaching parliament.

The proposal seeks to “establish the rules of the game for dominant platforms more rigorously and, at the same time, improve opportunities for innovation as well as market and data access of competitors,” an internal document statedsaid. It plans to ease merger control and increase legal certainty around cooperation and data pooling.

Following the February manifesto from France and Germany on Europe’s industrial policy, and Franco-German-Polish proposals to modernize EU competition policy in June, Germany is preparing a number of concrete changes to its competition rule book.

Full Content: Politico

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