Key legal question
Whether competitor appellants had standing under Art. 48 VwVG in cartel proceedings
Extracted holding
Competitors in cartel proceedings have standing if they are directly affected by an unlawful restraint in a clearly noticeable economic way, especially by a concrete loss of turnover.
Extracted reasoning
The Cartel Act aims to secure effective competition; competitors may therefore have a special, legally relevant proximity to the matter. Standing must not be reserved only for situations where competition has already failed, because that would improperly import the merits into admissibility.