Hogan Lovells advises on competition law clearance for data network Catena-X
Led by Munich partner Dr Christoph Wünschmann, international business law firm Hogan Lovells has advised leading companies in the German automotive and IT industry on the consultation of the Catena-X project with the German Federal Cartel Office.
The initiative is one of the flagship projects for the development of a European data infrastructure. Catena-X will closely connect companies along the entire automotive value chain and enable a secure inter-company exchange of data. In addition to optimising logistics and quality management in the supply chain, the data exchange will help to achieve sustainability goals. Currently, 28 partners are participating in the project, including well-known car manufacturers, car parts suppliers and IT companies.
The Bundeskartellamt has now declared that it has no objections to the planned start of the cooperation. In its press release, the Bundeskartellamt emphasises: “Our examination focused in particular on the setting of certain standards and the cooperation in research and development, among other things, for which we were able to give the green light. Set up properly, initiatives like these are promising since they could boost competition in cloud services in the future, a development we would very much like to see.”
Hogan Lovells had already advised on the formation of the Catena-X Automotive Network, the umbrella organisation for the Catena-X project.
Hogan Lovells antitrust team
Dr Christoph Wünschmann (Partner), Dr Lukas Rengier (Counsel), Dr Philipp Heuser (Senior Associate), Matthias Schlau (Senior Associate), Benedikt Weiß (Associate) (all Antitrust).