The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the Bundeskartellamt are hosting the G7 Joint Competition Policy Makers & Enforcers Summit on 12 October 2022 to facilitate an exchange on policy approaches and enforcement related to competition in digital markets. The representatives of the G7 member states (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Japan, Canada, USA) and the European Commission will be discussing the state of legal reforms around the globe, digital enforcement and the intersection of competition law and other fields of law and policy.

Sven Giegold, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action: “Fair competition is a cornerstone for our market economies and democracies and essential for consumer welfare and innovation. The G7 Competition Summit shows that there is political momentum to look into the structures of digital markets and to strengthen the rules and enforcement.”

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “We can build on successful enforcement, and agencies around the world are getting equipped with new tools to become even more effective. As we are dealing with global digital issues we need to ensure policy and enforcement interoperability. We need coherent approaches, remedies that have impact, and interdisciplinary thinking, particularly where data practices come into focus. The G7 Competition Summit brings together enforcers and policy makers to exchange, inform each other and make our toolbox future- proof.”

During the Summit, two documents will be presented: The policy makers Inventory, prepared with the help of the OECD, compiles a comprehensive overview of legislative approaches to competition in digital markets within the G7, in order to improve mutual understanding with a view to fostering greater coordination to support competitive digital markets. In this way, building on the efforts of the French and British G7 presidencies, the G7 can benefit from each other's experience and identify best practices in the long term. The Compendium highlights the key aspects of each G7 competition authority’s work on digital markets. The Compendium is building on the format established by the Competition and Markets Authority as part of the UK’s 2021 G7 presidency.

With the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Union has agreed on a strict set of competition rules for major players in digital markets. The German government pushed for ambitious regulations during the negotiations. After all, fair competition benefits small and large businesses just as much as consumers. In order for the new rules to take full effect, civil society has the opportunity to notify the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection at the e-mail address DMA@bmwk.bund.de of conduct by large digital players that the EU Commission should prioritize to stop with the DMA. The Bundeskartellamt will support the EU Commission in this process.