The Bundeskartellamt (German Federal Cartel Office) has released its “Tätigkeitsbericht 2011/2012” (a summary report of its most recent two-year activity).

What stands out to me is that the BKartA/FCO initiated only 28 second-phase reviews of notified mergers in 2011 and 2012 (out of 1108 and 1127, respectively). That’s merely 1.25% of in-depth reviews. 6 proposed deals were prohibited and 2 allowed with “strict conditions imposed.”

On the cartel front, the agency found infringements in 34 cases, yielding fines of 190m and 360m Euros in 2011 and 2012, respectively.  By far the highest fine was doled out in the rail track cartel, amounting to 124.5m Euros thus far (with further investigation in related markets ongoing).

The Bundeskartellamt also investigated 67 abuse-of-dominance cases and initiated several sectoral inquiries, as well as pushing forward its central “gasoline price transparency” project.