On 30 June 2026, the German Federal Cartel Office published its Annual Report 2025/26, setting out its enforcement priorities and key developments across digital markets, energy and fuel markets, and food retail.
What you need to know
- Digital enforcement remains central: Digital markets remain a core priority, with Section 19a of the Act against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, GWB) continuing to operate alongside the EU Digital Markets Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, DMA). The FCO is focusing on platform rules affecting pricing freedom and visibility, tracking and data access, AI-related dependencies, and marketplace terms.
- Sector-specific market supervision is becoming more visible: Energy and fuel markets feature prominently, from price parity clauses and electricity price spikes to fuel market monitoring and energy price relief proceedings.
- Food retail remains a structural priority: The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, FCO) continues to focus on concentration, rebate and purchasing conditions, as well as merger control in food production and retail, while proceedings overall are becoming more complex, data-intensive and technology-driven.
On 30 June 2026, the FCO published its Annual Report 2025/26 (Annual Report) which provides a useful indication of where the FCO is likely to focus its enforcement resources in the near term. While the Annual Report covers a broad range of topics – from cartel enforcement and merger control to procurement and the competition register – the forewords by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche and FCO President Andreas Mundt highlight three sectoral priorities in particular: digital markets, energy and fuel markets, and food retail. These priorities sit within a broader enforcement environment in which proceedings are becoming more complex, more data-intensive and where technology-enabled investigations increasingly shape outcomes.
The FCO's Key Figures and Statistics for 2025
The headline figures show that the FCO has a broad enforcement portfolio. They also underline three recurring themes: active merger review, continued reliance on evidence-led investigations, and a growing role for abuse control in complex markets.
Merger control
- 876 merger notifications were filed.
- 826 transactions were cleared in Phase I, 29 transactions were withdrawn, and ten transactions were found not to be notifiable.
- Two Phase II (in-depth) proceedings were opened.
- Three Phase II proceedings were concluded: one prohibition, one discontinuation and one withdrawal.
Cartel enforcement and investigations
- The FCO collected approximately EUR 18 million in fines (including interest) from completed proceedings, covering cases in road construction repair, consumer electronics, aluminium forging, steel forging, industrial construction services and navigation devices.
- The FCO received 815 indications of potential competition law infringements (including leniency applications and anonymous tips via the whistleblower system).
- The FCO carried out four dawn raids in its own proceedings, searching 13 companies or associations and seven private residences.
- The FCO secured approximately 40 terabytes of IT evidence and 170 hard copy files.
Control of abusive practices
- The FCO opened seven and closed three abuse control proceedings.
- In one digital platform case, the FCO imposed a partial recovery of economic benefits of approximately EUR 59 million.
Energy price cap proceedings
- The FCO completed all 70 proceedings relating to alleged breaches of the energy price cap schemes introduced during the 2022/2023 energy crisis, against a backdrop of drastically rising energy prices, to relieve consumers.
- These proceedings resulted in approximately EUR 218 million in repayments and compensation payments by companies.
Federal Public Procurement Chambers
- 132 review applications were filed.
- The FCO issued 49 decisions on the merits.
- The FCO decided in favour of public contracting authorities in 28 cases, in favour of applicants in 17, and in favour of each side in 4.
Competition Register
- As at the end of April 2026, approximately 25,000 companies were registered in the Competition Register, with around 7,850 new entries in 2025. The Competition Register is a nationwide digital register, which provides public authorities with information on whether a company is to be, or may be, excluded from a public procurement procedure on the grounds of economic offences – including competition law violations – that it has committed.
- Public authorities queried the register approximately 1,100 times per day.
Digital Markets: Big Tech, Platforms, Data and AI
Digital markets remain a central enforcement area for the FCO which extends beyond large digital platforms. The Annual Report places data, cloud infrastructure and AI within the same competitive framework: digital business models increasingly depend on large datasets, access to computing power, high-quality data, cloud infrastructure and foundation models. Because these inputs may prove difficult to replicate, the FCO views access to data, AI-relevant inputs and control over digital infrastructure as increasingly important for market power, market entry and competitive dynamics.
This analytical approach links closely to the continuing relevance of Section 19a GWB. This provision allows the FCO to intervene earlier and more effectively against certain practices of companies with paramount cross-market significance for competition. In practical terms, this tool targets large digital ecosystems whose position may allow them to shape access conditions, commercial opportunities or user choice across several markets at once. The FCO also makes clear that the DMA does not act as a substitute for traditional competition law enforcement. German and EU abuse control rules (including rules addressing conduct below the dominance threshold) remain applicable alongside the DMA. This matters in particular where national competition law imposes additional obligations, where conduct falls outside the scope of DMA enforcement, or where new types of digital conduct emerge in the future.
The digital markets cases discussed in the Annual Report illustrate how these principles translate into enforcement practice. Rather than pointing to one isolated theory of harm, they cover a range of platform and ecosystem rules, including:
- platform rules that affect the pricing freedom or visibility of third-party sellers;
- tracking and data access rules in mobile ecosystems;
- contractual restrictions around the use and combination of digital mapping or automotive services; and
- marketplace terms that may influence sellers’ commercial behaviour.
The message is clear: the FCO is looking closely at rules embedded in digital ecosystems, especially where they affect access, visibility, data use or the commercial freedom of business users.
Energy and Fuel Markets: Market Supervision in Crisis and Transformation Markets
Energy and fuel markets form one of the most prominent sectoral themes in the Annual Report, which covers several levels of the energy value chain: energy distribution and comparison portals, electricity generation, energy and climate infrastructure, and fuel pricing. Taken together, these topics show a shift from isolated case reporting to broader market supervision in sectors that are economically sensitive, politically visible and affected by external shocks.
One example from energy distribution is the FCO’s focus on price parity, most-favoured-nation and best-price clauses used by comparison portals. The Annual Report discusses contractual clauses that prevented energy suppliers from offering electricity and gas tariffs more cheaply through other comparison portals or through their own sales channels than through Check24, Germany’s largest price comparison website. According to the FCO, such clauses can weaken competitive pressure and make it harder for other comparison portals and sales channels to compete. See our March 2026 update for further detail.
Fuel markets are another enforcement priority. Following geopolitical tensions in early 2026 – including the escalation of the Iran crisis and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which disrupted global oil supply routes – fuel prices in Germany rose sharply from late February 2026. The legislative response was a "fuel measures package", which introduced new tools, including:
- Limiting price increases to once per day: Fuel prices at petrol stations may only be raised once per day, at 12 noon. Price reductions remain permitted at any time and without limit.
- Strengthened abuse control in the fuel sector (Section 29a GWB): Specifies fuel-related price abuse at the refinery and wholesale level whereby dominant suppliers are prohibited from charging prices that are disproportionate to their costs, with a reversal of the burden of proof requiring dominant companies to demonstrate the reasonableness of their pricing.
- Simplified proceedings following sector inquiries (Section 32f GWB): Enables the FCO to intervene in cases of significant and persistent distortions of competition following a sector inquiry, without requiring a separate interim procedure to establish the distortion. The finding can now be made within the sector inquiry itself.
The broader context is that the FCO is not only focusing on final consumer prices at petrol stations. It places particular emphasis on upstream and wholesale levels, including refineries, wholesale fuel markets and price information services. This reflects the FCO’s view that competition concerns in fuel markets may arise well before consumers see the final price at the pump.
In the electricity sector, the FCO, together with the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, Germany’s energy and telecommunications regulator), investigated exceptional electricity wholesale price spikes during periods of low wind and solar generation in November and December 2024. The FCO states that it found no indications of abusive capacity withholding in the periods reviewed. Separately, the FCO’s market power report found that the market power of the leading electricity producers in Germany has increased significantly, particularly against the backdrop of a decline in controllable generation capacity.
The FCO also completed its proceedings relating to the energy price cap schemes. The government introduced these schemes during the 2022/23 energy crisis to relieve consumers: for a defined consumption volume, consumers paid a state-set price, while energy suppliers received corresponding compensation payments from public funds. The accompanying abuse control regime aimed to prevent suppliers from setting prices in a way that increased public compensation without higher costs justifying such increases. Although these proceedings related to crisis legislation, they illustrate the FCO’s willingness to scrutinise pricing and cost justification in regulated or state-supported market environments.
Food Retail and Consumer Goods: Concentration, Conditions and Merger Control
The FCO continues to prioritise the food sector given its high concentration and importance to consumers. According to the Annual Report, the four leading retail groups hold over 85% of food retail sales in Germany (excluding drugstores, specialist retail and online retail). Rising supplier-side concentration keeps food retail and production a recurring focus of both merger control and abuse control.
Key merger cases include a prohibited transaction, which would have reinforced the acquirer's strong position in pig slaughtering and created a leading position in cattle slaughtering, and an ongoing review of the sale of approximately 300 grocery sites to leading retailers. The FCO’s approach remains fact-specific: it cleared several transactions in dairy, meat processing and retail, where market shares, remaining alternatives or the absence of overlaps did not warrant intervention. Taken together, these examples show that the FCO intervenes where structural concerns are substantiated but clears deals otherwise.
The FCO has also initiated proceedings scrutinising commercial terms used by food and beverage suppliers and manufacturers as well as grocery retailers. On the supplier side, an ongoing abuse proceeding examines whether a strong beverage supplier's rebate and purchasing conditions induce retailers to stock, place and promote a broader product range in a way that could hinder competitors in neighbouring product markets. On the retailer side, proceedings address possible anti-competitive rebate and condition practices by a major food retailer.
Procedural and Institutional Developments
Beyond the sector-specific themes, the Annual Report also highlights broader procedural and institutional developments.
First, the planned 12th Amendment to the GWB aims to modernise proceedings, focus merger control through higher turnover thresholds and preserve scrutiny of transactions posing particular competition risks, including potential ‘killer acquisitions’ – see our July 2026 update.
Second, the FCO notes that enforcement proceedings – particularly in digital markets, international matters and resource-intensive fine cases involving extensive evidentiary demands – have become significantly more complex, both legally and technically, given issues such as pricing algorithms, platform rules, data access and electronic evidence volumes, prompting expanded IT-supported evaluation, screening and AI-supported tools.
Third, whistleblowing and external reporting channels remain key intelligence sources: the FCO recorded a high number of indications of potential competition law infringements, including reports through its anonymous whistleblower system and the external reporting office, contributing to new investigations and searches.
Fourth, the Competition Register (which records companies found responsible for serious economic offences) continues to grow as a procurement compliance tool. Contracting authorities must query the register before awarding contracts above certain thresholds, and may do so voluntarily for smaller awards. Depending on the offence, companies listed in the register remain there for three or five years. However, they may apply for early deletion through a self-cleaning mechanism by demonstrating that they have addressed past misconduct and implemented preventive compliance measures. To date, nearly 100 companies have been deleted early on this basis.
Practical Takeaways for Companies
The Annual Report signals an FCO that is broadening its enforcement footprint, deepening its technical capabilities, and paying closer attention to structural market conditions across digital, energy, fuel and food sectors. Companies with operations in Germany should treat the following as priority areas for reassessment:
- Digital markets and AI-related dependencies: Companies active in digital markets should review platform rules, data access arrangements, tracking frameworks, AI-related dependencies (including reliance on cloud infrastructure and foundation models) and terms affecting business users or third-party sellers. The FCO is particularly interested in rules that affect access, visibility, data use, pricing freedom or the ability of third parties to compete on and around digital platforms.
- Energy and fuel markets: Businesses in energy and fuel markets should ensure that pricing decisions, cost justifications and crisis-related commercial responses are well documented. This is particularly important where prices move sharply in response to external shocks, where state support schemes are involved, or where market participants operate in concentrated upstream or wholesale markets.
- Comparison portals and multi-channel distribution: Companies using comparison portals, online distribution channels or multi-channel pricing structures should reassess parity, most-favoured-nation and best-price clauses in light of the FCO’s recent enforcement approach. Clauses that appear commercially convenient may raise competition law concerns if they reduce incentives to offer lower prices through alternative channels or make it harder for rival intermediaries to compete.
- Food and consumer goods: Food and consumer goods companies should pay particular attention to rebate systems, listing conditions, category management arrangements, purchasing conditions and M&A strategies in concentrated markets. The FCO is looking at both supplier-side and retailer-side market power, as well as the impact of commercial terms on competitors’ access to customers and distribution.
Investigation readiness: All companies should keep dawn raid, document retention, whistleblowing and internal investigation processes up to date. The FCO's growing use of IT-supported evaluation, data analytics and AI-supported screening tools means that internal communications, structured data and pricing or distribution records may become central evidence in future investigations.
Other authors and key contacts: Dimitra Karakioulaki, Associate; Sarah Schaible, Transaction Lawyer
