The Federal Cartel Office’s declaratory decision on Meta/Kustomer: news for merger control

This article deals comprehensively with Decision B6-37/21 of the German Federal Cartel Office. First of all, the way of a declaratory decision, which was taken for the first time in the history of merger control, is discussed and examined with regard to its legality. In addition, the Federal Cartel Office’s extensive interpretation of the criterion of a significant domestic impact in the context of the transaction value threshold is critically assessed and the lack of coordination between the German and European control regimes in the case of such mergers is demonstrated.