The German railway company Deutsche Bahn must allow for more competition. The Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, found that the company had abused its dominant market position with respect to the sale of rail tickets.
GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors in Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and London conclude: The Bundeskartellamt had been investigating Deutsche Bahn from as early as the beginning of 2014. The competition watchdog had been looking into the suspicion that the company was abusing its dominant market position in the sale of rail tickets. On May 24, 2016, the Bundeskartellamt announced that the proceedings had been discontinued. In return, Deutsche Bahn has to allow for greater competition. Accordingly, the company is now committed to implementing extensive changes with regard to the sale of rail tickets.
According to Federal Cartel Office, competition in the rail sector presupposes competition in the sale of rail tickets. Deutsche Bahn was said to have been obstructing this competition. Selling tickets is now set to become much easier for the company’s competitors. For instance, they will also be allowed to sell their rail tickets at the railway station vendors in future. Going forward, there will no longer be any clauses in rental agreements that have hitherto posed significant obstacles to this. Conversely, other local transport operators shall be able to sell Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance tickets from their ticket machines as well. Commission charges which need to be paid for the reciprocal sale of tickets will be standardized and reduced. These and other measures are meant to boost competition in the railway sector and increase consumer convenience.
Germany’s Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (GWB) [Act Against Restraints of Competition] is one of the fundamental pillars of antitrust law. It is supposed to ensure free and effective competition as well as prevent practices that restrict competition. These include, among other things, abusing a dominant market position.
In order to guarantee free and fair competition, infringements of the GWB or abuse of a dominant market position may be deal with severely and accordingly entail sanctions. For the companies concerned, this can result in protracted and potentially costly legal disputes. To prevent this from happening, lawyers who are versed in the field of antitrust law ought to be consulted early on. They are able to assess whether there are any concerns from the perspective of antitrust law and assist in overcoming existing difficulties.
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