{"id":5919,"date":"2022-12-22T12:13:52","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T11:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/?p=5919"},"modified":"2022-12-24T10:02:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T09:02:05","slug":"bundeskartellamt-genehmigt-einkaufsgesellschaft-von-warsteiner-und-karlsberg-bedeutung-fuer-die-schweiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/news-insights\/bundeskartellamt-genehmigt-einkaufsgesellschaft-von-warsteiner-und-karlsberg-bedeutung-fuer-die-schweiz\/","title":{"rendered":"German Federal Cartel Office approves Purchasing Cooperation of Warsteiner and Karlsberg \u2013 Relevance for Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"5919\" class=\"elementor elementor-5919\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5e192929 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-eae-slider=\"84650\" data-id=\"5e192929\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-328c9e8\" data-eae-slider=\"11822\" data-id=\"328c9e8\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1457845 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1457845\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"825\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/German-Federal-Cartel-Office-approves-Purchasing-Cooperation-of-Warsteiner-and-Karlsberg-\u2013-Relevance-for-Switzerland.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-5926\" alt=\"German Federal Cartel Office approves Purchasing Cooperation of Warsteiner and Karlsberg \u2013 Relevance for Switzerland\" srcset=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/German-Federal-Cartel-Office-approves-Purchasing-Cooperation-of-Warsteiner-and-Karlsberg-\u2013-Relevance-for-Switzerland.jpg 825w, https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/German-Federal-Cartel-Office-approves-Purchasing-Cooperation-of-Warsteiner-and-Karlsberg-\u2013-Relevance-for-Switzerland-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/German-Federal-Cartel-Office-approves-Purchasing-Cooperation-of-Warsteiner-and-Karlsberg-\u2013-Relevance-for-Switzerland-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/German-Federal-Cartel-Office-approves-Purchasing-Cooperation-of-Warsteiner-and-Karlsberg-\u2013-Relevance-for-Switzerland-18x12.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a76e28a\" data-eae-slider=\"28071\" data-id=\"a76e28a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-99081b4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-title elementor-page-title elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"99081b4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">German Federal Cartel Office approves Purchasing Cooperation of Warsteiner and Karlsberg \u2013 Relevance for Switzerland<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5f29e2b elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"5f29e2b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-685ec73 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"about\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-tags\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-terms\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list-item\">Competition<\/span>, <span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list-item\">News<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-d50ae70 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"datePublished\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-calendar\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time>22.12.2022<\/time>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-ec6c601 elementor-inline-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-user-circle\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMario Strebel, Fabian Koch\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4d17332b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4d17332b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<style>.elementor-element-4d17332b{display:none !important}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e6fdab6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e6fdab6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<style>.elementor-element-e6fdab6{display:none !important}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0bcb7c3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0bcb7c3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>On 14 December 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office cleared the establishment of a purchasing joint venture by the well-known breweries Warsteiner and Karlsberg. It considered the project to be unproblematic from a merger control and antitrust perspective. This decision is also relevant for Switzerland. <\/strong><\/p><p><strong>Background <\/strong><\/p><p>Warsteiner Brauerei Haus Cramer KG (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.warsteiner.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Warsteiner<\/a>) and Karlsberg Holding GmbH (<a href=\"https:\/\/karlsberg.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Karlsberg<\/a>) are active in the production and distribution of beer and beer-based mixed drinks. Karlsberg also distributes mineral water and other non-alcoholic beverages to a relevant extent at locations in North Rhine-Westphalia, south-west Germany and Bavaria. As medium-sized companies, they are both among the larger breweries in Germany, though not the largest ones. With the joint purchasing association Warsteiner and Karlsberg want to bundle activities in purchasing.<\/p><p><strong>Assessment by the German Federal Cartel Office <\/strong><\/p><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundeskartellamt.de\/EN\/Home\/home_node.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">German Federal Cartel Office<\/a> examined the project with regard to both the relevant sales and procurement markets. Since there are other major competitors besides Warsteiner and Karlsberg in the markets for beer and non-alcoholic cold drinks, the cumulated market shares are not in a problematic range and no other antitrust problems are apparent, the German Federal Cartel Office considered the purchasing cooperation to be admissible under competition law. However, in the event of an expansion of the purchasing company to include further shareholders, the authority reserved the right to re-examine the project as to its admissibility under the prohibition of cartels as well as the relevant merger control regulations, if applicable.<\/p><p><strong>Assessment and Further Information <\/strong><\/p><p>The decision of the Federal Cartel Office is also relevant for Switzerland. It recalls that joint purchasing activities can also be unobjectionable under the strict German competition law.<\/p><p>In our view, this decision is to be welcomed, as \u2013 within certain limits \u2013 purchasing companies and comparable forms of cooperation regularly have the purpose and effect of promoting competition, in particular lower purchase and, subsequently, sales prices. Under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedlex.admin.ch\/eli\/cc\/1996\/546_546_546\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Swiss Cartel Act<\/a>, these should therefore not even qualify as agreements on competition. It is generally undisputed that if the market position of the parties to a purchasing cooperation is limited, restrictive effects on competition are unlikely. This principle is reflected in particular in the relevant regulations of the European Union (EU), especially the <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/PDF\/?uri=CELEX:52022XC0630(01)&amp;from=EN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Horizontal Guidelines<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/commission.europa.eu\/index_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Commission<\/a>. This was also confirmed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/competition-policy.ec.europa.eu\/system\/files\/2022-03\/kd0722013enn_purchasing_agreements.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expert report<\/a> by Richard Whish and David Bailey on the Horizontal Guidelines, which provides a good overview of the issue and case law. It confirms that cooperation on joint purchasing regularly does not have the object or effect of restricting competition. Excessively strict standards for such purchasing pools could inhibit competition and innovation, as companies would refrain from desirable activities for fear of sanctions. Such overregulation would also run counter to the goals of competition law.<\/p><p>So far, there is hardly any relevant practice on joint purchasing in Switzerland. The advisory practice of the Secretariat of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weko.admin.ch\/weko\/en\/home.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Swiss Competition Commission<\/a> does not paint a clear picture of the criteria for the admissibility of joint purchasing that is consistent with EU regulations.<\/p><p>The parliamentary motions of Mr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parlament.ch\/en\/ratsbetrieb\/suche-curia-vista\/geschaeft?AffairId=20184282\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fran\u00e7ais<\/a> and Mr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parlament.ch\/en\/ratsbetrieb\/amtliches-bulletin\/amtliches-bulletin-die-verhandlungen?SubjectId=57316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wicki<\/a> show a growing unease in Swiss politics that unproblematic or even welcome behaviour can be inadmissible and even lead to direct fines due to an overly extensive and formalistic practice by the Swiss authorities and courts. In the service of legal certainty and to promote competition and innovation in Switzerland, it would be welcome if the Swiss competition authorities would soon issue a guiding decision regarding joint purchasing and comparable cooperations that is materially in line with the corresponding rules in the EU.<\/p><p>The press release of the Federal Cartel Office can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundeskartellamt.de\/SharedDocs\/Meldung\/DE\/Pressemitteilungen\/2022\/14_12_2022_Warsteiner_Karlsberger.html?nn=3591568\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> (in German).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c0b3fb0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c0b3fb0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-no-translation=\"\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>CORE Attorneys is a boutique law firm in Switzerland, focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/expertise\/wettbewerbsrecht\/\">competition\/antitrust law<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/expertise\/regulierung\/\">regulatory<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/expertise\/vertriebsrecht\/\">distribution law<\/a> matters. Visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/news-insights\/\">News &amp; Insights<\/a> and follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/core-attorneys\">LinkedIn<\/a> for regular updates on all our focus areas.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Am 14. Dezember 2022 erteilte das Bundeskartellamt die Freigabe f\u00fcr die Gr\u00fcndung einer Einkaufsgemeinschaft durch die bekannten Brauereien Warsteiner und Karlsberg. Es sah das Vorhaben in fusions- und verhaltenskontrollrechtlicher Hinsicht als unbedenklich an. Dieser Entscheid des Bundeskartellamts ist auch f\u00fcr&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Bundeskartellamt genehmigt Einkaufsgesellschaft von Warsteiner und Karlsberg \u2013 Bedeutung f\u00fcr die Schweiz","_seopress_titles_desc":"Artikel 101 (3) AEUV, Artikel 5 Absatz 3 KG, EU, Europ\u00e4ische Union, Europ\u00e4ische Kommission, Freistellung, Kartellgesetz, Horizontalleitlinien, Leitlinien, Kartellrecht, Kartellgesetz KG, Schweiz, WEKO, Wettbewerbskommission, Sanktion, Busse, Geldbusse, horizontale Abreden, Kartellgesetz, Kartellrecht, KG, Gemeinsamer Einkauf, Einkaufsgemeinschaft, Einkaufskooperation, Wettbewerbsf\u00f6rderung, Innovation, Wettbewerbsabrede, Motion, Motion Francais, Motion Wicki, Wirkung, Wirkungen, Wirkungsanalyse, Auswirkungen ","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[266,352,124,167,141,358,42,149,321,353,166,357,170,354,360,105,356,56,106,355,361,362,363,165,74,39,144,359,110,364,365,366],"class_list":["post-5919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-competition","category-neuigkeiten","tag-artikel-101-3-aeuv","tag-artikel-5-absatz-3-kg","tag-auswirkungen","tag-busse","tag-einkaufsgemeinschaft","tag-einkaufskooperation","tag-eu","tag-europaeische-kommission","tag-europaeische-union","tag-freistellung","tag-geldbusse","tag-gemeinsamer-einkauf","tag-horizontale-abreden","tag-horizontalleitlinien","tag-innovation","tag-kartellgesetz","tag-kartellgesetz-kg","tag-kartellrecht","tag-kg","tag-leitlinien","tag-motion","tag-motion-francais","tag-motion-wicki","tag-sanktion","tag-schweiz","tag-weko","tag-wettbewerbsabrede","tag-wettbewerbsfoerderung","tag-wettbewerbskommission","tag-wirkung","tag-wirkungen","tag-wirkungsanalyse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5919"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5947,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions\/5947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-attorneys.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}