When fuel prices surged following the outbreak of the Iran war, the German government introduced emergency measures designed to make prices more predictable and transparent. Under the so-called '12 o’clock rule', introduced on April 1st, petrol stations were only allowed to increase fuel prices once a day, at noon. But evidence gathered by SWR suggests many petrol stations may have breached the noon-time pricing rule. In July alone, around 1,100 petrol stations allegedly increased prices more than 5,500 times outside of the permitted window. The President of the Cartel Office has cautioned that this is likely to be a lengthy process.