Antitrust Law

• Setting up an antitrust compliance system
• Conducting antitrust audits/internal investigations
• Organising in-house workshops for the management, the legal department and for staff
• Antitrust & Competition on codes of conduct regarding complying with antitrust and competition law
• Advising on measures of “self-cleaning”
• Preparing for unannounced inspections and searches by public authorities (“dawn raids”)

Service Compliance & internal investigations >>

• On-site support in the event of inspections and searches conducted by the German and European antitrust authorities and the District Attorney’s Office
• Defending clients in cartel proceedings at national and European levels
• Leniency applications
• Settlement procedures in cartel cases handled by the Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission
• Appealing cartel/fining decisions by Antitrust authorities in court (EU and Germany)
• Providing comprehensive advice on other official and court proceedings (e.g. administrative proceedings)
• Advising on how to prepare for unannounced inspections and searches by public authorities (“dawn raids”)

• Structuring the cooperation of companies/drafting cooperation agreements (production, R&D, transfer of technology/licence agreements, specialisation)
• Advising on the formation of joint ventures and consortia
• Drafting and reviewing non-compete agreements
• Participating in the activities of associations
• Representing clients in administrative procedures before the German and European antitrust authorities

• Structuring distribution and licensing systems
• Drafting and (judicially) enforcing distribution and licence agreements
• Agency privilege (exemption of agreements between principal and sales agent from Art. 101 TFEU § 1 GWB (German Act Against Restraints of Competition))
• Legal opinions, in particular as part of self-assessments (individual exemption pursuant to Article 101(3) TFEU)
• Competition Law 4.0: platforms, algorithms and exchange of information in the digital age

• Regulated markets (electricity, gas, water, local public transport, railways, air transport, waste disposal, etc.)
• Representing clients in abuse-of-dominance proceedings before antitrust and regulatory authorities
• Special compliance requirements for companies holding a dominant or strong market position
• Refusal-to-supply-cases

• Antitrust damages
• Other antitrust and competition law disputes (in particular regarding supply, cease and desist, and termination agreements, amongst other things)
• Advising on antitrust-related post-M&A disputes
• Injunctive relief

Service Complex Disputes >>

• Merger control proceedings at the Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission
• Commitments and requirements
• Coordinating foreign filings (multijurisdictional filings)
• Antitrust due diligence
• Feasibility studies prior to proposed acquisitions
• Formation of joint ventures (in particular non-competes)
• Post-M&A non-compete agreements
• Avoiding gun-jumping (i.e. prohibition of implementing transactions between signing und closing)

Service Corporate / M&A >>

The Luther antitrust team offers a specialized antitrust mediation service. Agreements concluded before the Luther antitrust mediators have the same legally binding effect as judgments by German courts. They can be enforced in the same manner as final judgments rendered by state courts. In Germany, claims for damages or injunctions based on antitrust law may not only be raised in state courts. Rather, the parties can come to agreement with each other in a fast and flexible mediation procedure.

1. The claimant does not need to prepare a full and elaborate statement of claims. A summary of the facts will suffice.
2. The procedure is fast.
3. If the mediation procedure fails and a German court procedure should be initiated, the mediation can replace the so-called conciliation meeting that otherwise may be necessary before the court procedure begins.
4. The mediation is confidential and not publically disclosed.
5. The mediation suspends the limitation of the applicant’s claim for the duration of the mediation procedure and for six months thereafter (irrespective of whether or not the opponent agrees to the mediation).
6. A mediated agreement between the parties has the same effect as a final state court judgment and can be enforced in the same manner as a court judgment.

Your contacts:

Dr. Helmut Janssen, LL.M. (London) Partner Brüssel, Belgien, Düsseldorf

Anne Caroline Wegner, LL.M. (European University Institute) Partnerin Düsseldorf

• Legal opinions on digital business models and contracts, in particular for platform business models
• Advising on and implementing compliance systems within companies – how to protect against competition law infringements (“compliance by design”)
• Providing merger control advice for transactions in the digital economy
• Advising on abuse-of-dominance scenarios
• Assessing forms of cooperation, also between competitors
• Providing antitrust/distribution law advice on all aspects of e-commerce
• Advising on how to prepare for unannounced inspections and searches by public authorities (“dawn raids”)

• Advice on all antitrust issues (prohibition of cartels and abuse of a dominant market position), e.g:
  • Co-operations with competitors (co-promotion / co-marketing, R&D co-operations, production agreements)
  • Information exchange / notification systems / market information systems
  • Measures to restrict parallel imports
  • Pricing and discounting
  • (Late) life cycle management
  • Distribution channels (direct-to-pharmacy, direct-to-hospital, exclusive distribution, cooperation with selected wholesalers)
• Representation in antitrust investigations and proceedings by the European Commission, the German Federal Cartel Office and the state antitrust authorities
• Antitrust compliance and internal investigations
• German and EU merger control and coordination of merger control proceedings worldwide
• German Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) law
• EU state aid law (in particular FSR)