Status:
Published on 24-Jan-2001
The government has recently prepared a draft amendment to the
Federal Cartel Act. The draft has been circulated for comments to
political parties, trade and industry associations and other
interested parties and the comments are currently under review.
It is expected that the draft will be submitted to Parliament in
summer 2001 and, if adopted, would come into force on 1st July,
2002. The following changes are likely to be introduced:
- Direct sanctions in relation to horizontal cartels
(including, in particular, price fixing and market sharing
agreements) and in relation to abuses of single or joint
dominance in a market (see www.lawdepartment.net/global
"Competition Law Handbook 2000, Switzerland"). The maximum
fines would amount to 10% of the sales turnover of the
undertakings involved during the last three years.
- Non-mandatory comfort letters.
- A leniency policy for undertakings withdrawing from
cartels.
- The re-organisation of the Competition Commission.
- The elimination of the special thresholds for the
notification of media concentrations.
Source: Franz Hoffet, Homburger Rechtsanwälte