(1) For the purpose of preparing expert opinions on the development of business concentration, the Monopolies Commission is provided by the Federal Statistical Office [Statistisches Bundesamt] with such summarised data from the business statistics (statistics on the manufacturing industry, crafts, foreign trade, taxes, transport, statistics on wholesale and retail trade, the hotel and restaurant business and service sector) and from the statistical register that concern the percentage shares of the largest undertakings, businesses or divisions of undertakings in the respective sector of economy in the
a) value of goods produced for sale;
b) turnover,
c) number of employees,
d) total wages and salaries paid,
e) investments,
f) value of fixed assets rented or leased;
g) value added or gross proceeds,
h) number of the respective units.
Sentence 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the provision of information about the percentage shares of the largest groups of undertakings. For the purpose of allocating the data to the groups of undertakings, the Monopolies Commission shall provide the Federal Statistical Office with the names and addresses of the undertakings, information as to their affiliation with a group of undertakings and their identification codes. The summarised data may not cover fewer than three groups of undertakings, undertakings, businesses or divisions of undertakings. The combination with or temporal proximity to other information provided or generally accessible may not allow inferences on the summarised data of fewer than three groups of undertakings, undertakings, businesses or divisions of undertakings. This shall apply mutatis mutandis to the calculation of summary measures of concentration, in particular Herfindahl indexes and Gini coefficients. The Land statistical offices shall provide the Federal Statistical Office with the necessary information.
(2) Persons who are to receive summarised data pursuant to subsection (1) shall, prior to the transfer, be put under a special obligation to maintain secrecy unless they hold a public office or have special obligations in the public service. Section 1(2), (3) and (4) no 2 of the German Act on the Formal Assignment of Responsibilities to Persons other than Civil Servants [Verpflichtungsgesetz] shall apply mutatis mutandis. Persons have been put under a special obligation to maintain secrecy pursuant to sentence 1 shall, for the purpose of the application of the provisions of the German Criminal Code [Strafgesetzbuch] concerning the violation of private secrets (Section 203(2), (5), and 6); Sections 204, 205) and official secrets (Section 353b(1)), be treated like persons having special obligations in the public service.
(3) The summarised data may be used only for the purposes for which they were provided. They shall be deleted as soon as the purpose referred to in subsection (1) has been achieved.
(4) The Monopolies Commission shall take organisational and technical measures to ensure that only holders of a public office, persons having special obligations in the public service or persons having been put under a special obligation to maintain secrecy pursuant to subsection (2) sentence 1 will receive summarised data.
(5) The transfer shall be recorded in accordance with Section 16(9) of the German Federal Statistics Act [Bundesstatistikgesetz]. The records shall be kept for at least five years.
(6) When compiling the business statistics mentioned in subsection (1), the undertakings which are surveyed shall be informed in writing or electronically that pursuant to subsection (1) the summarised data may be transferred to the Monopolies Commission.