1. What will change as a result of the partial revision of the Cartel Act?

• Fundamental acceptability of working groups (in German: "Arbeitsgemeinschaft/ARGE"): The revised Cartel Act clarifies that working groups that enable or strengthen effective competition do not constitute an agreement affecting competition.

• Agreements affecting competition: In future, even hard-core agreements will be subject to a certain degree of an assessment of their effects. As part of an overall assessment, the competition authorities will consider both qualitative elements in the form of empirical values and quantitative elements in the form of the specific circumstances on the relevant market. The revised Cartel Act also clarifies the presumptions in relation to horizontal price agreements.
• Abuses: Abusive behavior by market-dominant companies must be examined on a case-by-case basis in an overall assessment based on empirical values and the specific market circumstances. This also confirms the latest case law of the Federal Supreme Court.
• Modernization of the merger control procedure: The previous qualified market dominance test will be replaced by the SIEC test (significant impediment to effective competition), which applies inter alia in the EU merger control procedure. On this basis, the Competition Commission ("ComCo") may prohibit merger transactions below the market dominance threshold (or only clear them subject to conditions or restrictions) if they significantly impede competition. In addition, efficiency gains can be taken into account more comprehensively. At the procedural level, the obligation to notify a merger transaction to ComCo could be waived in future if all markets affected by the merger transaction include the EEA in addition to Switzerland and the European Commission will review this transaction. Differences in the deadlines in Switzerland and the EU can now be mitigated by ComCo being able to extend the deadlines.
• Strengthening of civil competition law: In future, indirectly affected parties (e.g., consumers and the public sector) will also have legal standing to take civil law action. In addition, the statute of limitations for civil claims arising from unlawful restrictions of competition will be suspended from the opening of investigations by ComCo or the European Commission until a final decision is reached. A new right to seek a declaration of unlawful restriction of competition will also be introduced.
• Expansion of investigative measures: In future, competition authorities will also be allowed to search individuals (e.g. during dawn raids).
• Amendments to administrative procedural law: The revised Cartel Act now enshrines the principles of investigation, presumption of innocence, and burden of proof, though these are largely declaratory in nature. Other changes include the introduction of time limits for procedures across all instances, compensation for parties, and the consideration of voluntary compensation to injured parties as a mitigating factor in sanctions.​​​​​​​
• Improvement of the opposition procedure: The voluntary procedure for the preliminary assessment of conduct that may violate competition law will be improved and made more practical. The risk of direct sanctions in relation to the reported conduct will be eliminated if the competition authorities do not open an investigation within the opposition period. The opposition period will be shortened from five to two months.​​​​​​​
• Compliance defense: Under the revised Cartel Act, measures taken to prevent competition law violations may in future be taken into account by the competition authorities as a mitigating factor when calculating the sanctions.​​​​​​​

What are the next steps?

On December 19, 2025, the Council of States and the National Council will hold a final vote on the draft bill. The revised Cartel Act also requires amendments to the Ordinance on the Control of Concentrations of Undertakings, the Ordinance on Sanctions imposed for Unlawful Restrictions of Competition, and the Ordinance on Fees under the Cartel Act, as well as numerous notices and forms issued by the authority. A consultation process in this regard is expected to take place in spring 2026. The revised Cartel Act is not expected to come into force before the beginning of 2027.

In early 2026, Schellenberg Wittmer will inform in detail about the key changes and implications in a comprehensive newsletter and at a dedicated client event.