It is the task of other public authorities to proceed under other relevant legislation against deceptive but not competition distorting practices. The legal framework is basically the same in respect of both horizontal and vertical agreements restricting competition. These agreements are prohibited and null and void, unless they fall within one of the exceptions set out in the Competition Act or are exempted on the basis of criteria laid down in the Act. Exemptions can be granted by block exemption regulations and individually. Individual exemptions must be applied for to the Office.
Merger control is based on an obligatory preliminiary authorization system.
To prevent mergers threatening unjustifiedly competition concentrations involving undertakings with turnovers above the thresholds laid down in the Competition Act require an authorization of the OEC to come into effect. Based on the Competition Act some Government regulations contain provisions on the exemption of certain groups of restrictive agreements. Furthermore, there are other pieces of legislation which are not part of the competition law in its narrow sense but have provisions influencing competition.