German competition watchdog imposes €848m fines in 2019

Germany's antitrust authority, the Bundeskartellamt, announced on Friday that it imposed fines in cartel proceedings totalling around 848 million euros in 2019.

"We invest many resources in cartel prosecution," said Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt.

The fines were directed against 23 companies or trade associations and 12 individuals, the antitrust authority noted. In 2019, the sectors concerned included bicycle wholesale, building service providers, magazines, industrial batteries, purchase of steel for the automotive industry and steel production.

With regards to merger control, the Bundeskartellamt had scrutinized 1,400 notified mergers of which four were prohibited by the authority.