Office chief sees abnormalities
Cartel Office investigates suspected illegal price gouging
6/19/2023, 6:44 p.m
In the shadow of rising inflation, have companies pushed up prices further? The Federal Cartel Office wants to investigate this. Authority President Mundt speaks of “remarkably uniform” rising prices in some sectors – and threatens proceedings.
The Bundeskartellamt is investigating the suspicion that companies have made illegal agreements to increase prices in the shadow of high inflation. “We see sectors where prices are going up very consistently – sometimes by the same percentages,” said Andreas Mundt, President of the Cartel Office “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “We’re close, and not just observing. It’s possible that proceedings will follow.”
Mundt did not want to name names, but emphasized that it was not about gas stations. There, the cartel office has already examined what is happening in a sector investigation, but found no evidence of prohibited agreements.
In any case, the prosecution of illegal price fixing will keep the competition authority busy. “We’re in full swing of cartel prosecution,” said Mundt. The office has so many cases that it can hardly keep up. During the corona pandemic, the Bundeskartellamt had to postpone many searches. A lot has accumulated there, says Mundt.
At the same time, the head of the authority also pointed out that uncovering price agreements was becoming more difficult and that the cartel office was therefore also upgrading its technology. “Cartels aren’t so obvious anymore. Some things are just better covered up,” he said. Suspicious e-mails, for example, are rarely found. There has long been a particularly protected digital communication between the companies involved.