Competition

The Competition Act (2008:579) contains prohibitions against anti-competitive co-operation and abuse of a dominant position. The Act also contains rules governing concentrations between undertakings. The Swedish Competition Authority applies Articles 81 and 82 EC Treaty in accordance with EC Regulation 1/2003.

Investigation of companies

The Competition Act prohibits companies from anti-competitive co-operation concerning i.a. prices and discounts. Market sharing arrangements between companies are also prohibited.

The Competition Act provides the Swedish Competition Authority with the power to carry out on-site inspection of companies in order to secure evidence of practices contravening these prohibitions.

If the Authority has grounds to suspect that a serious infringement of the Competition Act has taken place, it may apply to the Stockholm City Court for an authorization to carry out an inspection at a company’s premises i.e. a dawn raid.

Under normal conditions the Authority carries this out without any warning and investigates whether there is documentation which can be used to provide evidence of a possible infringement of the Competition Act.

The Authority can also carry out an inspection of a company at the request of the European Commission and provide assistance for the Commission’s inspections in Sweden. Inspections may also be carried out at request of competition authorities in the EU member states.

Abuse of a dominant position

The Competition Act prohibits abuse of a dominant position on the Swedish market by one or more undertakings. Having a dominant position is not in itself prohibited, what is prohibited is the abuse of market power.

A dominant position means that an undertaking has a strong economic position making it possible for the undertaking in question to prevent effective competition by acting independently of its competitors and customers and ultimately of consumers.

Merger control

The Competition Act contains new rules for notification of mergers to the Competition Authority. The Authority is to be notified of a corporate merger when the aggregate annual turnover in Sweden of the companies involved exceeds SEK 1 billion, and where at least two of the companies involved have a turnover in Sweden that exceeds SEK 200 million per company. 

Sanctions

The Competition Authority can order infringements of the prohibitions of the Act to be terminated with or without the attachment of a fine.

If particular grounds exist e.g. where more serious infringements occur, the Authority may issue an interim order which will apply until it makes its final decision.

The Stockholm City Court on the petition of the Competition Authority may also prohibit a concentration between undertakings. Alternatively the Court can decide on other less extensive measures to prevent the harmful effects of such a concentration.

A company in violation of any of the prohibitions of the Competition Act may be liable to pay an administrative fine. An administrative fine is determined by the Stockholm City Court subsequent to action brought by the Competition Authority. 

If the company admits to having infringed the competition rules, the Authority may issue a ‘fine order’. This means the Authority does not have to go to court and claim an administrative fine in cases where the parties are in agreement. Companies are free to accept a fine order, or not. An accepted fine order has the same effect as a court ruling.