Headquarters for Combating Unfair Competition

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Central Office for Combating Unfair Competition in Frankfurt am Main eV is a non-profit, registered association based in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , which, according to its own account, is committed to promoting fair competition as a “self-regulatory institution for business ”. The association is commonly referred to as the competition headquarters. Its members are around 800 associations and around 1200 companies. These include the chambers of industry and commerce , chambers of crafts and leading associations of the German economy.

The statutory tasks are to enforce the law against unfair competition (competition law), ie to prosecute and participate in legal research. Furthermore, it contributes to the promotion of fair business dealings and fair economic competition through education, instruction and legal advice. The association issues numerous publications for its members and for both the general and specialist public on current developments in competition law .

The competition headquarters employs more than 20 lawyers in the offices in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , Berlin , Hamburg , Dortmund , Stuttgart and Munich .

The official organ of the association is the legal journal Competition in Law and Practice (WRP) .

Legal basis

The legal basis is the authority to bring representative actions under the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG): In the event of violations of competition law (primarily violations of the Act against Unfair Competition), the Competence Center, as an institution of the economy with legal powers, has a statutory right to injunction ( Section 8 (3) No. 2 UWG) against the infringer, who can be asserted before the civil courts by way of a private suit ( injunctive relief ). Due to its membership structure, the competition center has extensive collective right to bring legal action throughout the whole of Germany.

As a rule, in the event of a competition violation, the organization first issues a warning in order to achieve an out-of-court settlement of the competition dispute.

With the new Consumer Protection Enforcement Act, the Competitiveness Center has been added as an agent under Section 7 VSchDG, according to which it can be commissioned to prosecute intra-European competition violations by the competent authority, the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL).

history

The association was founded from 1912 to 1913 by predominantly Berlin piano manufacturers. The original - not entirely altruistic - goal was to prevent the commercial sale of pianos through supposedly private classified ads .

During the Second World War , the club was not active. In 1949 it was re-established in Frankfurt am Main . The seat is currently in the neighboring Bad Homburg vor der Höhe .

criticism

In the past, the association treated its membership directory as classified information. The amount of the membership fee is negotiable and is based on the turnover of the member.

It is therefore criticized that the competition headquarters lacks transparency and neutrality. It is conceivable that a potential member company might influence the association and initiate proceedings against its competitors, while the business conduct of the member companies themselves is viewed less critically. In the past , Ryanair was warned several times by the association, unsuccessfully requested the disclosure of the membership directory and finally submitted an application for membership itself.

In the meantime, however, the directory of members is available online on the association's website.

Companies from the renewable energies sector complain that proceedings are often initiated by the association in cooperation with the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management for petty reasons. The federal association consists mainly of conventional energy producers. In addition, some companies criticize the association's warning behavior, which, according to the critics, does not lead to promoting competition, but is seen as "job creation for lawyers".

See also

literature

  • Helmut Köhler, Joachim Bornkamm, Jörn Feddersen: Beck'sche short comments, law against unfair competition, 36th edition, Munich 2018, Verlag CH Beck oHG, ISBN 978-3-406-71264-7
  • Peter W. Heermann, Jochen Schlingloff (Ed.), Munich Commentary on Unfairness Law, 2nd edition, Munich 2014, Verlag CH Beck oHG, ISBN 978-3-406-64482-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.wettbewerbszentrale.de/de/institution/satzung/
  2. ^ AG Frankfurt am Main, 73 VR 6482
  3. ↑ http://www.airliners.de/ryanair-wegen-zu-hoher-gebuehren-abgemahnt/14404
  4. ↑ http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/handel-konsumgueter/ryanair-soll-verbübers-in-die-irre-fuehren-ryanair-attackiert-deutsche-wettbewerbszentrale/2482348.html
  5. ↑ Directory of Members
  6. ^ Circular letter of the Prokon group of companies, issue 41, August 2011