The digital economy is now „more important than ever“ for Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO), President Andreas Mundt said during the recent presentation of the agency’s 2024/25 annual report. The Bonn-based regulator has long been active in the digital space – “even when others still dismissed it as „hipster antitrust“, he added.

The FCO begins by assessing whether a company holds „paramount cross-market significance“ for competition. That designation has already been applied to tech giants such as Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. Once such a determination is made, the authority can take targeted action to prohibit anti-competitive practices. While digital markets are dynamic and innovation-driven, Mundt warns that they are also „prone to monopolistic structures.“

In April, the FCO closed one such case after reaching a settlement with Google. The proceedings concerned a bundle of services offered to car manufacturers under Google’s „Automotive Services“ suite – covering entertainment, navigation, communication, and vehicle control functions. „European digital providers had a hard time entering this space“, notes Mundt. Google has now agreed to unbundle these services and offer them individually, while ensuring interoperability with rival offerings. Car manufacturers will be free to choose and combine services from different providers.

Recent cartel office fines remain comparatively low in historical terms. Mundt continues to attribute this to the after effects of the pandemic, when fewer on-site inspections were conducted. While fresh investigations are now underway, antitrust cases typically take years to conclude. Several major cases are in the pipeline, he says, and „we will see higher fines again.“

In 2024, the FCO imposed roughly 26 million euros in fines on six companies and one individual, collecting around 53.7 million euros including interest from ongoing proceedings. The single largest case involved AVM Computersysteme, known for its „Fritzbox“ routers. According to the FCO, AVM employees coordinated pricing with six electronics retailers to set resale prices for end customers. AVM has been owned by private equity firm Imker Capital Partners for about a year. In the first half of 2025, the authority has already issued 10 million euros in fines and collected 16 million euros from earlier proceedings.

As part of its merger control remit, the FCO reviewed 870 merger filings in 2024. Nine cases were subject to in-depth Phase II scrutiny, with four ultimately withdrawn. In early 2025, the authority prohibited Tönnies International Management’s (now Premium Food Group) planned acquisition of several slaughterhouses from Vion. The deal would have harmed smaller competitors in the affected regions. For Mundt, this is a clear example that competition oversight is not always a national or global issue – „sometimes it’s the local market that matters most.“