(1) At the request of the competition authority of another Member State of the European Union, the Bundeskartellamt shall serve the following documents on an undertaking, an association of undertakings or a natural person in Germany on behalf of that competition authority:
1. any kind of preliminary objections to alleged infringements of Article 101 or Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
2. decisions applying Article 101 or Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
3. other procedural acts adopted in the context of proceedings concerning the enforcement of Article 101 or Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union that are to be served pursuant to the provisions of national law; and;
4. other documents relating to the application of Article 101 or Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including the enforcement of fines or periodic penalty payments imposed.
(2) Requests to serve documents pursuant to subsection (1) on an addressee residing in the geographic scope of application of this Act shall be made by transmitting a uniform instrument in German which must be accompanied by the document to be served. The uniform instrument shall indicate the following information:
1. the name and address of the addressee, and, if applicable, any other information based on which the addressee can be identified,
2. a summary of the relevant facts and circumstances,
3. a summary of the contents of the document to be served,
4. the name, address and other contact details of the requested authority, and
5. the period within which the service should be effected, such as statutory time limits or limitation periods.
(3) The Bundeskartellamt may refuse to serve documents if the request does not meet the requirements set out in subsection (2) or if serving the documents would be manifestly contrary to public policy. If the Bundeskartellamt intends to refuse to serve documents or if additional information is needed, the Bundeskartellamt shall inform the applicant competition authority accordingly. Otherwise, the Bundeskartellamt shall serve the corresponding documents without undue delay.
(4) The documents shall be served based on the provisions of the German Act on Service in Administrative Procedure [Verwaltungszustellungsgesetz]. Section 5(4) of the German Act on Service in Administrative Procedure and Section 178(1) no 2 of the German Code of Civil Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis to the service of documents on undertakings and associations of undertakings.
(5) The Bundeskartellamt shall be authorised to cause the competition authority of another Member State to serve the Bundeskartellamt's decisions and other documents within the meaning of subsection (1) on its behalf. The request for service shall be addressed to the competent competition authority of the requested Member State in the form of a uniform instrument in accordance with subsection (2), together with a translation of this uniform instrument into the official language, or one of the official languages, of the Member State of the requested authority, with the document to be served accompanying this instrument. A translation of the document to be served into the official language, or one of the official languages, of the Member State of the requested authority shall be necessary only if required under the national law of the requested Member State. The requested authority's testimony shall suffice as proof of delivery.
(6) At the request of the requested authority, the Bundeskartellamt shall reimburse the requested authority for any costs incurred as a result of serving documents, in particular any costs incurred due to necessary translations or personnel and administrative expenses, to the extent that these costs are reasonable. The Bundeskartellamt may file a corresponding request with an applicant authority if the Bundeskartellamt incurred such costs in the context of serving documents on behalf of the applicant authority.
(7) Any disputes concerning the lawfulness of a document prepared by the Bundeskartellamt and to be served in the territory of another competition authority, and any disputes concerning the validity of such service effected by the Bundeskartellamt on behalf of the competition authority of another Member State shall be decided by the court that is competent pursuant to this Act. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply.