(1) The appellate court shall decide by decree on the basis of its conclusions freely reached from the overall results of the proceedings. The decree may be based only on facts and evidence on which the parties had an opportunity to comment. The appellate court may depart from this requirement insofar as, for important reasons, in particular to protect operating or business secrets, third parties admitted to the proceedings were not allowed to access the files and the content of the files was not part of the pleadings for these reasons. This shall not apply to such third parties admitted to the proceedings that are involved in the disputed legal relationship in such a way that the decision can only be made uniformly also in relation to them.
(2) If the appellate court holds the competition authority's decision to be inadmissible or unfounded, it shall reverse the decision. If, in the meantime, the decision has been withdrawn or otherwise become moot, the appellate court shall declare, upon application, that the decision of the competition authority was inadmissible or unfounded, provided that the appellant has a legitimate interest in such a declaration.
(3) If a decision pursuant to Sections 32 to 32b or Section 32d has become moot because of a subsequent change of the factual situation or for other reasons, the appellate court shall decree, upon application, whether, to what extent and up to what time the decision was well founded.
(4) If the appellate court holds the competition authority's refusal or failure to issue the decision to be inadmissible or unfounded, it shall declare the competition authority's obligation to issue the decision applied for.
(5) The decision shall also be inadmissible or unfounded if the competition authority has improperly exercised its discretionary powers, in particular if it has exceeded the statutory limits of its discretionary powers or if it has exercised its discretion in a manner violating the purpose and intent of this Act. The evaluation of the general economic situation and trends by the competition authority shall not be subject to review by the court.
(6) The decree shall contain a statement of reasons and be served upon the parties together with information as to the legal remedies available.