ABSTRACT
Today the German Federal Cartel Authority (Bundeskartellamt) is well known for its strict antitrust policy. As Andreas Mundt, the current president of the Federal Cartel Authority, points out, ‘The competitive principle is the founding pillar of our economic and social order’ 1 (Bundeskartellamt: Jahresbericht 2013: 3). To ensure that principle, the Cartel Authority today is approved to carry out a whole string of activities. Beyond the observation and the control of mergers one of the most important tasks of the administration is to reveal and sanction cartels. In 2013 the Cartel Authority completed work on several revealed cartels among them the famous ‘Beer-Cartel’. Eleven brewers were convicted of illegal price agreements for bottled, as well as, draft beers. During the proceedings, the brewers were found guilty of having increased prices by one euro per crate; prices for draft beer had been arbitrarily increased. Ultimately, the Cartel Authority imposed fines of 338 million euros (ibid.: 36). The impressive volume of fines that run from record to record during the last few years may be understood, however, as both an indicator that cartels remain still quite active in Germany as well as the effectiveness of the Cartel Authority (Bundeskartellamt, Sektoruntersuchung Kraftstoffe – Abschlussbericht Mai 2011).
