Working Group on Competition Economics discusses competitive situation on petrol station and waste disposal markets as well as the digital economy

Today the Working Group on Competition Economics held its seventh conference. Members of the Bundeskartellamt discussed topical issues of competition economics with experts conducting research in this field.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Regular exchange with academics is a key element in continuously improving our case practice. Today’s agenda for the Working Group on Competition Economics’ meeting covered the competitive situation on petrol station and waste disposal markets, among other topics. On the one hand, we looked at the competitive analysis and, on the other, at empirical estimation methods and the particularities of bidding markets.

Another topic were our experiences gathered so far in applying the stricter abuse control rules regarding large digital corporations (Section 19a of the German Competition Act, GWB). This new instrument has been in force since last year and we have already issued our first decisions. Receiving input from academics allows us to keep up to date with the latest economic research.”

The following academic experts attended today’s conference: Prof. Dr Justus Haucap (Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics), Prof. Dr Martin Peitz (University of Mannheim), Prof. Dr Markus Reisinger (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management), Prof. Dr Ulrich Schwalbe (University of Hohenheim) and Prof. Achim Wambach, Ph.D. (Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim).