Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

Section 5 of the Act is very similar to Article 101 TFEU: agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which have as their object the significant prevention, restriction or distortion of competition or which result in a significant prevention, restriction or distortion of competition are prohibited. A non-exhaustive list of prohibited practices …

The prohibition

Section 5 of the Act is very similar to Article 101 TFEU: agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which have as their object the significant prevention, restriction or distortion of competition or which result in a significant prevention, restriction or distortion of competition are prohibited. A non-exhaustive list of prohibited practices includes price fixing, limitation of production, market sharing, applying dissimilar conditions at a competitive disadvantage, and imposing conditions unrelated to the subject of the contract.

In addition to the prohibitions against specific types of restrictive agreements and practices, the Act includes a general prohibition applying to anticompetitive conduct even resulting from an agreement, statute, decision or other legal act or arrangement (Section 8).

Before the 2019 amendments, there was no de minimis threshold and in all cases the Finish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) had discretion over whether to impose a fine or not, even when the case was of minor importance although Section 12(1) of the Competition Act states that a penalty payment should not be imposed if the conduct is deemed to be minor. Since the 2019 amendment, Section 32 now clearly provides that the FCCA, which must prioritize its tasks, should not investigate a case where it cannot be considered probable that the suspected restriction of competition will significantly affect the functioning of competition.

  Under Section 6, a practice may benefit from an individual exemption if four cumulative conditions are met. The agreement between undertakings, decision by an association of undertakings, or concerted practice must contribute to improving the production or distribution of goods or to promoting technical or economic progress, allow consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit, not impose on the undertakings concerned restraints which are not indispensable to the attainment of these objectives and not afford such undertakings the possibility of eliminating competition in respect of a substantial part of the products in question.

  Moreover, the Finish Competition and Consumer Authority uses block exemptions and guidelines established by the EU authorities as a source of interpretation. The last one was published in 2022, entitled “Guidelines on exemptions from the penalty payment and reducing the penalty payment in cartel cases”. 

Global Competition Law

236. The prohibition

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

236. The prohibition

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise