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Government proposes new Competition Act
The government has proposed a new Competition Act. Under the proposal, a new test to be used in the merger control procedure will be introduced and new rules on fines and damages implemented. The law is expected to enter into force at the beginning of 2011.
The Market Court has ruled that between 1997 and 2004 the forestry companies Metsäliitto Cooperative, Stora Enso and UPM-Kymmene were guilty of national price cooperation and exchanging information regarding the purchase of timber. The court imposed fines totalling €51 million for violating the Competition Act.
The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled on the largest cartel case ever to be tried in Finland, finding that asphalt companies had participated in a cartel. The court dismissed the asphalt companies' appeal of the Market Court's 2007 decision and approved, to a significant extent, a counter-appeal by the Competition Authority. The court imposed fines totalling €82.5 million across the industry.
A working group under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy has published its long-awaited proposal for a comprehensive reform of the Act on Competition Restrictions. The proposed amendments will in many respects clarify the current applicable legislation and further harmonize the national competition rules with the EU competition law regime.
The Market Court has imposed a competition infringement fine in the amount of €100,000 on Suomen Numeropalvelut Oy for the abuse of a dominant position in relation to the sale of subscriber information for the production of telephone directories. The decision follows the Competition Authority's proposal to the court to impose a competition infringement fine of €150,000 on Suomen Numeropalvelut.
The Finnish Competition Authority (FCA) has cleared, subject to conditions, a concentration whereby Swedish media group Bonnier, through TV4 AB, acquired sole control of another Swedish media company, C More Group AB. The FCA has accepted a number of behavioural and structural conditions on the concentration and the acquirer has appealed.
